Liverpool have assured Arsenal fans that they have ‘security measures’ in place to avoid a repeat of homophobic chanting which took place the last time the sides met at Anfield.
Contacted by the Arsenal fan group, Gay Gooners, about the chants, Liverpool replied to say, “I can assure you that the Police and Safety Stewards are aware of the issues that occurred during the match at Anfield on 4th March 2017 in the Visitors Section.
“There are security measures in place for Sundays [sic] fixture and any form of discrimination will be dealt with immediately.
“Liverpool Football Club will not tolerate any form of homophobia or any form of anti-social behaviour from any supporters, home or away!”
Gay Gooners said of the issue, “At last season’s fixture on Saturday 4 March 2017, there was repeated chanting of the obviously homophobic and very long “Ten men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley…” song about Ashley Cole, in the away concourse prior to kick-off.
“This went on for several minutes. None of the Liverpool stewards or the police did anything. Most just carried on smiling.
“Some members of Arsenal gaygooners were there. One asked LFC’s chief steward in the away concourse what he was going to do about it. He replied that wasn’t aware it was homophobic so we asked him to listen to it. He then shrugged his shoulders and said ‘what can I do?’
“We pointed to the Liverpool stadium sign about reporting discrimination and he just said there was nothing he could do.
“The chanting continued.”
Leicester City recently ejected a number of fans for homophobic chants at their game against Brighton. The fans were later arrested.
As you can hear in the video below, the chants are simply unacceptable in football these days and it’s good to see Liverpool not only put plans in place to deal with homophobia but also engage with Arsenal fans when they raise their concerns over the issue.
One can only hope that they also educate their stewards on what they are being paid to do during football matches as well….
We have asked @LFC to improve its response to homophobia at Anfield following our experience five months ago. https://t.co/k3D92IiBIj
— Arsenal gaygooners (@gaygooners) August 20, 2017