Following sectarian incidents at the Northern Ireland v Scotland match in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin recently, the Irish FA has said that

Information has now come to light which has provided the name of one of those involved. The Association will now seek to confirm the identity of this individual. If their identity is confirmed, the Irish FA will place a life time ban on this person from receiving tickets to all Northern Ireland home and away games.

I reiterate my hope that they will do this for any homophobic chanting at football matches under its control.

Today is 19 February 2011 and is the second international day opposing homophobia in football. As I said previously, when are we going to hear from the Irish FA that it is supporting this campaign – it may well be too late for this year – but there is always next year.

February 19th 2010, The Justin Campaign launched Football v Homophobia – An international day opposing homophobia in football. The intention of this initiative is to provide an opportunity for individuals, communities and teams the world over to communicate their disapproval of homophobia in the game and celebrate its diverse following under the banner of Football v Homophobia. Last year, supporters of the initiative in the UK united with fans in North America, Canada, Spain and other countries for the first event.

Maybe Northern Ireland will get involved in the third event. If, of course they are involved this year, they have my apologies, but I can find no reference to it online.

Related Articles

• Come on Irish FA – let’s kick out homophobia too (gyronny.wordpress.com)
• Irish FA to ban fan after chants (news.bbc.co.uk)