Football is for everyone.
Saying that should not be controversial, but given some of the news headlines over the past few weeks, it is clear that sometimes it needs to be made explicit.
AFC Wimbledon will be drawing a bold line under that idea on Saturday.
This comes on the heels of a rash of incidents involving racist speech and behaviour among fans at several European clubs, including Chelsea and Feyenoord.
Saturday will present just the latest example of Wimbledon’s commitment to tolerance and acceptance.
The club was one of the early prominent voices in English football to speak out on behalf of LGBT supporters and players.
In 2013, they became the first British club to partner with the Berlin-based Football Fans Against Homophobia campaign, and have since become supporters of the nationwide Football v Homophobia programme.
As a queer individual myself, knowing that the club I love is willing to make such public, explicit stances for acceptance and against hate means a great deal.
The spectre of intolerance can have a profound chilling effect.
For any member of a marginalised group to feel part of a community, there need to be some basic ground rules— and social (or even legal) consequences for breaking them.
A writer I greatly admire said recently: “When you decline to create or to curate a culture in your spaces, you’re responsible for what spawns in the vacuum.”
Whether it’s these big public gestures or the small interactions that are hardly noticed, AFC Wimbledon has shown time and again that it is willing to take responsibility and create a space, and a community, for everyone.
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