Jorge Luis Pinto, the technical director of the national Colombian soccer team has backed recent comments by former Italian soccer trainer Luciano Moggi who riled against gays back in April in what an AFP report called a "a bizarre television interview.""A homosexual cannot do the job of a soccer player," Moggi said, "The soccer world is not designed for them, it's a special atmosphere, one in which you stand naked under the showers."
On April 24th, a reporter from El Heraldo, which is based in the Colombian Caribbean city of Barranquilla, asked Pinto to react to Moggi's statements. Pinto agreed and then gave the following answers:
Q: Is very complicated [for gays] to join [a soccer team]?
Pinto: They don't fit in. Due to their attitude, behavior, demands and respect, they don't fit in, it seems to me that that concept of virility in soccer, without it being machismo, has to be respected.
Q: There are players and technical directors who consider it to be very normal to find homosexuals in the teams, that they have always existed and will exisit.
Pinto: From what is said to what is done there's a long road, there are behaviors, but concretely, very few. Soccer itself rejects those characters.
The comments drew some criticism and on April 26th Peru's RPP News found Pinto backtracking a bit.
"My appreciation is one of respect," he told the paper when asked about his comments earlier in the week, "I respect the intimacy of homosexuals. Soccer is a little rough, rustic and tough. In the past I thought that soccer wasn't for ladies, but now it could be that with the passing of the days soccer is for everyone."
He also told RPP that he didn't have anything against anyone with a different ssexual orientation.
Previously on Blabbeando:
- Trans panic in soccer, Part 64: Ronaldo's big night out (May 3, 2008)
- Homophobia and racism in soccer, Part 65: Hugo Sanchez (March 31, 2008)
- Homophobia in soccer, Part 64: Hernan Dario Gomez (Nov. 16, 2007)
- Los Dogos: World gay soccer champs (Sept. 29, 2007)
- Soccer player "outed" in Peru as Argentina hosts gay soccer tournament (Sept. 26, 2007)
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1 comment:
Such comments are straight out of a comedy sketch and would be funny if they weren't the opinions of real people. All over the world, the sports community seems so slow to accept reality.
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