Sport
Evan Bartlett
Jul 31, 2016
![When a fan asked 'what the hell' Norwich City was supporting gay pride for, the club replied with one wonderful word](https://www.indy100.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28089319&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C78%2C0%2C78)
Homophobia is still a huge problem in football. While attitudes have improved over the years, there are currently no openly gay players in England's professional leagues.
After coming out a few years ago, US footballer Robbie Rogers said he was surprised at how slow it has been for others to do the same.
It's been a lot slower. I guess that just reminds me how big a problem it is in sports culture with homophobia. They don't feel comfortable.
As representatives of the national sport, many would therefore argue that football clubs have a big responsibility to support the LGBT community and encourage everyone to feel comfortable while watching the game.
Last week, Norwich City FC announced they would be flying a rainbow flag above their Carrow Road ground for this weekend's friendly match against Hannover 96 to support Norwich Pride.
Not every fan was happy about this - with one taking to Facebook to ask "what the hell has this to do with football?".
Taking that aforementioned responsibility in mind, the club responded with one simple word:
While the man's comment was later deleted, the club's reply elicited dozens of positive messages from other fans. Some messages on Facebook read:
Great job Norwich City for being on board and putting out the positive attitude also passion the club has.
Being a straight male I for one CANNOT see any issues with this at all. I think it's amazing our club is willing to stand up for the human rights of others.
Good job Norwich City FC, hope other iconic clubs follow suit with these type of events, spread love not hate.
One fan also explained to indy100:
There were a lot of stupid comments made by ill-informed morons which was shameful.
Especially when you remember one of the club's great heroes was Justin Fashanu who ended up killing himself because of the sort of homophobia shown in some comments that he would suffer...
Well done to the club on this occasion.
Well done to the club, indeed.
HT Dave
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