Football
Against Homophobia
The case of Halil Ibrahim Dincdag
Many
football fans across Europe may be aware of the recent ‘Kampa Showan’ incident
in Sweden, where a famous activist, Showan Shattak, of the Football Against
Homophobia campaign was hospitalised and put into a coma as a result of a
far-right knife attack on a group of activists who were celebrating
International Womens Day. This is a shocking event, particularly in one of the
supposed most liberal countries in the world, and highlights that there is a
long way to go to eradicate discrimination against other sexualities
within society. This isn't the only concern at present though...
Clapton FC Ultras - leading the way in the UK in support of Kampa Showan |
The Eccles
& District branch of FC United of Manchester, are currently flying the flag
of ‘Football Against Homophobia’ within the club ever since our alliance with
the fans of Tennis Borussia Berlin that took place during a post-season tour in
2013. They are at the forefront of the campaign in Germany, and recently, some
of their fans have been involved in a heart-warming story surrounding the
‘Football Against Homophobia’ campaign.
This particular case
concerns Halil Ibrahim Dincdag, who is a long-standing Turkish football referee (pictured at the start of this article)
that ‘came out’ back in 2009. Since then he has had his referee licence
revoked, and has had to move to Istanbul to escape media attention and protect
his family – although being gay is not illegal as it is in many Muslim
countries, Turkish society is still strongly homophobic. Since then he has lost
his job, and has been unable to referee. That is until the fans of Tennis
Borussia Berlin & Rote Stern Leipzig found out about his plight.
For more
background to his story, see here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gay-referee-gets-red-card-in-turkey-1718056.html
The fans
managed to make contact with Halil, and invited him to come visit them in
Germany. This proved to be difficult in the land of bureaucracy, as his visa
was denied several times. With many Turkish immigrants already living in
Germany, the authorities are taking a hard stance on issuing visas. However,
they were eventually successful, and it led to a dramatic twist in the saga.
On Tuesday,
Tennis Borussia Berlin played a friendly match against Türkiyemspor, a team
that started in the late 1970’s, which are supported by many Turkish immigrants
living in Berlin. How apt then that Halil, in his first competitive match since
his ban within Turkey five years ago, led both teams out onto the pitch with
tears in his eyes, and went on to referee the match.
He has been
described by the fans who arranged this trip as a great guy, very modest, yet
firm, fair, and confident in his refereeing ability. Despite all the complications he has faced since coming out,
Halil claims that he doesn’t regret coming out, as he sees this battle, one in
which he will be taking to the European Court of Human Rights, as something of
upmost importance.
Yesterday he
refereed his second match, Roter Stern Leipzig’s first vs. second team, which
was described again as an emotional affair. In this instance, some of the
Berlin fans even travelled down to Leipzig to support Halil. Who would have
thought in this day and age there would be fans that can be classed as
supporters of certain referees? That my friend is what we call post-modern
football.
Today, Halil
Ibrahim Dincdag returned ‘home’ to Turkey to carry on his underground
lifestyle, to continue with his battle to become reinstated as a referee, and
to combat homophobia in football and Turkish society. Wasn’t that a great
opportunity that the fans of Tebe and Roter Stern had provided for him? All of
us at the FC United of Manchester Eccles & District branch wish him and all
the Football Against Homophobia campaigners all the best in their struggles,
and will being to look at ways in which we can support the campaign at our new
home in Moston, Manchester.
©
Schwarzbrennen
Really very informative and awesome post. It helps us to increase our football related knowledge. Thank you very much for this post. Wishing best of luck. Waiting for the next.
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Thanks for nice post, Lot of information with this post. I'm so much like Halil Ibrahim Dincdag and also my fave rate team Manchester.I wish Halil Ibrahim Dincdag should be success inhis life in any corner.
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