Paris Saint-Germain player Idrissa Gana Gueye is under intense criticism in France after she allegedly refused to join the fight against homophobia and sport a jersey strewn with rainbow-colored numbers.
The case seems to have a diplomatic turn. For a week, the football world, especially in France and Senegal, has been embroiled in a controversy that could be more than just a sporting framework.
This Saturday, May 14, the 37th day of Ligue 1, symbolizes the fight against homophobia, under the leadership of the LFP, The Professional Football League.
For the occasion, all players from each team wore a flocked LGBT pride rainbow jersey, as a sign of support.
All but Idrissa Gana Gueye, Senegalese midfielder for PSG, when her club faced Montpellier.
His coach Mauricio Pochettino confirmed at a press conference that his player was not absent for medical reasons, but for personal reasons.
An absence that provoked a lot of comments.
In France, Valérie Pécresse, candidate in the last presidential election, did not hesitate to call on the French authorities to impose sanctions against Idrissa Gana Gueye.
The players of a football club, and the PSGs in particular, are figures of identity for our youth. They have a duty to set an example. Idrissa Gana Gueye’s refusal to join the fight against homophobia cannot go unpunished!he exclaimed on Twitter.
A position widely shared by anti-homophobia organizations and many analysts and commentators who specialize in the world of soccer, who see this initiative completely overshadowed by this controversy.
An opinion contrary to those shared in Senegal, the country of origin of the player, where I was present at the time of writing these lines.
The player is widely supported by the local population.
I have read many articles and listened to local broadcasts that mostly support the player’s alleged position, even making him a symbol of cultural and religious values in a predominantly Muslim country.
The President of the Republic, Macky Sall, himself has publicly supported the player’s alleged action on Twitter, saying it was necessary respect their religious beliefs.
A tweet that annoys me with timing and in content, because it can lend intentions to a player who has still not expressed himself on this subject. Unless of course the president has information that we don’t have.
So, does a soccer player have the right to refuse to participate in an awareness campaign against homophobia or racism, for example?
Is he necessarily homophobic or racist if he doesn’t follow the decisions made by the leagues?
I observed a similar example in the recent past in the case of San Francisco Giants baseball player Sam Coonrod. He refused to kneel during the Black Lives Matter movement in July 2020.
He justified his decision by saying: I am a Christian, I can only kneel before God.
Does it automatically make him racist?
LeBron James himself, for example, refused to wear the BLM slogan on his back when he resumed NBA activities in 2020. He explained that he congratulations to everyone who decided to put something on the back of their shirt. It’s something that doesn’t really match my mission, my purpose.
These examples show that the positions of some high -level players can be more complex than the explicit positions seen on Twitter, for example.
These situations are different from each other, and of course it is important to defend all forms of equality and fight discrimination.
But I also think it’s important not to fall into the division trap, and more importantly, wait for the player himself to express himself on the value of his act before he is condemned decisively.
The truth of an act or a thought cannot, in my eyes, be reduced to a tweet of a few words.
Source: Radio-Canada
