The Football Association (FA)has said they will probe into the alleged homophobic chants at Old Trafford during FA Cup third round game between Manchester United and Everton match.
Similar chants were again heard recently on Sunday when Chelsea were held 1-1 at Nottingham Forest in the other Premier League match.
Forest’s impressive performance was marred by alleged homophobic chanting from some home supporters toward traveling fans. Chelsea’s official LGBTQ+ supporters group took to Twitter toward the end of the first half to “totally condemn” the chant it said could be heard during a match which was shown live on Sky Sports.
Forest said in a statement shortly after fulltime: “The club are aware of reports concerning chants aimed at Chelsea supporters from a minority of fans this evening and do not condone any type of discriminatory or offensive behaviour. The matter will be investigated.”
Nottingham Forest’s Serge Aurier, right, celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Chelsea at City ground in Nottingham, England, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
“We strongly condemn the use of the term ‘rent boy’ and we are determined to drive it out of our game. We continue to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as the UK Football Policing Unit, in relation to the use of this term,” an FA spokesperson told Mirror Football.
While another FA statement read, “We continue to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as the UK Football Policing Unit, in relation to the use of this term.
Part of our world in this area has been to provide the relevant authorities with impact statements from LGBTQ+ supporters, detailing how chants of this nature affect their experience and feeling of inclusion at football matches so that a cleaner stance and understanding on the chant can be established.
We stand firmly against all forms of discrimination and we are striving to ensure our game is a safe environment for all, which truly embraces diversity and challenges hateful conduct both on and off the pitch.”