Landon Donovan ‘reacted like a father’ to anti-gay slur at gay player Collin Martin
Football boss says he's "sick" of homophobia in football
Landon Donovan says he’s “sick” of homophobia in sport and reacted “like a father” while spearheading his team the San Diego Loyal’s decision to forfeit a game over homophobia month.
Phoenix Rising player Junior Flemmings made an alleged anti-gay remark against out gay player Collin Martin last month.
Martin’s teammates subsequently walked off the pitch in protest – a move instigated by the team’s manager, Donovan.
“I reacted so emotionally”
Addressing the protest during an interview with Sky Sports News yesterday, Donovan also recalled an incident of alleged racist abuse directed at fellow SDL player Elijah Martin the week before.
“We didn’t do anything during the game, unfortunately,” said Donovan. “And then after the game we dealt with it. But then the subsequent week was a really difficult week for our group.
“So my first reaction was kind of like a father, I reacted so emotionally because I was sick of seeing our players go through this.”
The former Everton player began managing the US team earlier this year. He has previously played alongside out gay player Robbie Rogers at LA Galaxy.
“Hopefully if we get this behaviour out of the game, it will be more and more comfortable for people to be themselves and not have to worry about being discriminated against,” he added. “Incidents like this don’t encourage people to come out because you don’t want to be subjected to that.”
“Abuse and violence has no place in football”
Over the weekend, a similar football protest occurred in the UK.
A member of Portishead Town FC’s A-team is accused of making the comment against a Shipman AFC player in the Weston and District Football League in a game on Saturday (10 October).
Addressing the incident on Twitter, a rep for Somerset’s Shipman AFC said: “Proud of the team today for walking off. Clear homophobic abuse from a @PortisheadTown player.
“Unacceptable behaviour at any level of the sport. Absolutely disgusting and the player in question needs to have a long hard look at himself.”
Speaking to Attitude, a spokesperson for Somerset FA said: “We are aware of an alleged incident of homophobic abuse and are swiftly undertaking a thorough investigation. Somerset FA takes allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and we are working with the clubs involved to understand the facts and pass this information on to The FA who deal with all discrimination cases nationally. Incidents like this are very rare, but just one incident is too many; discrimination, abuse and violence has no place in football.”
(Pictures: Wiki/San Diego Loyal)
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