Furore over Italy football chief's lesbian slur
An Italian football chief has sparked furore after allegedly describing female footballers as “a handful of lesbians”.
Felice Belloli, the head of the national amateur league, allegedly made the comments during a meeting in March with the board of the league’s women’s department to discuss funding women’s football, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
“That’s enough, we can’t always talk about giving money to this handful of lesbians,” he allegedly said.
The comments were recorded in the minutes of the meeting, and sent to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), which is mulling whether to open an investigation.
But Belloli has denied the allegations, telling Ansa that it needs to be proven that the comments came from him.
Valeria Fedeli, the vice president of Italy’s Senate took to Twitter to condemn the comments.
“Sexism and homophobia are a serious problem in football,” she wrote.
#Sessismo e #omofobia sono un problema grave del calcio #LegaCalcio #Belloli http://t.co/KLGFxrSdEW pic.twitter.com/sOIfZGT9KQ
— valeria fedeli (@valeriafedeli) May 15, 2015
Meanwhile, Luisa Rizzitelli, the president of Assist, the national association for female athletes, called on Belloli to immediately resign and for the football federation, as well as premier Matteo Renzi, to support the request.
“We don’t consider the word ‘lesbian’ to be offensive, but in this context it is unacceptable and homophobic,” she was quoted by Tutto Sport as saying.
“Obviously, the Italian women’s team winning bronze in the World Cup last year is not enough for him to respect athletes in this discipline, their coaches and managers.”
Comments
See Also
Felice Belloli, the head of the national amateur league, allegedly made the comments during a meeting in March with the board of the league’s women’s department to discuss funding women’s football, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
“That’s enough, we can’t always talk about giving money to this handful of lesbians,” he allegedly said.
The comments were recorded in the minutes of the meeting, and sent to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), which is mulling whether to open an investigation.
But Belloli has denied the allegations, telling Ansa that it needs to be proven that the comments came from him.
Valeria Fedeli, the vice president of Italy’s Senate took to Twitter to condemn the comments.
“Sexism and homophobia are a serious problem in football,” she wrote.
#Sessismo e #omofobia sono un problema grave del calcio #LegaCalcio #Belloli http://t.co/KLGFxrSdEW pic.twitter.com/sOIfZGT9KQ
— valeria fedeli (@valeriafedeli) May 15, 2015
Meanwhile, Luisa Rizzitelli, the president of Assist, the national association for female athletes, called on Belloli to immediately resign and for the football federation, as well as premier Matteo Renzi, to support the request.
“We don’t consider the word ‘lesbian’ to be offensive, but in this context it is unacceptable and homophobic,” she was quoted by Tutto Sport as saying.
“Obviously, the Italian women’s team winning bronze in the World Cup last year is not enough for him to respect athletes in this discipline, their coaches and managers.”
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.