Published on : 18/05/2022 – 14:58
Supported in Senegal but highly criticized in France, the PSG player was summoned on Wednesday to explain his supposed refusal to join an action once morest homophobia by the ethics committee of the French Football Federation (FFF). ).
Idrissa Gana Gueye still in turmoil. The international midfielder, player at PSG, is strongly suspected of having withdrawn for not wearing the flocked jersey in the colors of the rainbow of LGBT pride during the May 14 match once morest Montpellier. If the associations criticize him in France, he received the support of the President of Senegal in person, Macky Sall.
On Wednesday May 18, he received a summons from the National Ethics Council (CNE) of the French Football Federation (FFF), a body which nevertheless has no disciplinary power.
“One of two things, either these assumptions are unfounded and we invite you without delay to express yourself in order to silence these rumors”, writes the CNE to him in a letter consulted Wednesday by AFP. “Either these rumors are correct. In this case, we ask you to be aware of the scope of your gesture and the very serious error committed”, continues the letter signed Patrick Anton, president of the CNE, revealed by The Team.
The CNE, for example, suggests that Gana Gueye “accompany” her answer “with a photo of you wearing the jersey in question”.
“You in fact validate discriminatory behavior”
On Saturday during the 37th day of Ligue 1, the Professional Football League (LFP) organized an operation entitled “Gays or heterosexuals, we all wear the same jersey” where the numbers of L1 and L2 players were painted in rainbows. -sky. Gueye did not play and was not injured, PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said that evening.
“This absence (…) is very widely interpreted as a refusal to participate in this operation to raise awareness and fight once morest discrimination”, writes the CNE. “By refusing to participate in this collective operation, you are in fact validating discriminatory behavior, the refusal of the other, and not only once morest the LGBTQI + community.”
The National Ethics Council (CNE) of the FFF wrote to Idrissa Gueye:
“By refusing to participate in this collective operation, you are in fact validating discriminatory behavior, the refusal of the other, and not only once morest the LGBTQI + community”, writes the CNE.
(@lequipe) pic.twitter.com/DmsNtOUG56
— Instant Foot ⚽️ (@lnstantFoot) May 18, 2022
The Ethics Council concludes its message to the African champion by hoping “that this letter will make you aware of the need to clarify your situation or make amends, as the case may be”.
Contacted by AFP, the player’s entourage said that Gana Gueye would speak soon regarding this controversy. PSG, for its part, remained discreet, recalling the club’s “long-standing commitment to the fight once morest homophobia and discrimination”. From a source close to the locker room, we only mention an individual choice of the player.
It seems difficult to imagine the club sanctioning the player, because PSG might then find themselves in a complex legal situation with regard to labor law.
The support of the president of Macky Sall
Already in 2021, Gana Gueye had not played the match of the day dedicated to the fight once morest homophobia organized by the LFP. He had mentioned gastroenteritis.
“He had already done it last year. There is little doubt regarding his intentions,” Bertrand Lambert, president of Panam Boyz and Girlz United, a club open to diversity, told AFP.
In Senegal, the case also has a lot of echo but the general tone of the judgments differs.
Gueye and his colleagues in the selection, African champions in February for the first time in the history of the country, are adored, and many supports for the PSG player have been posted on social networks.
The Senegalese president himself, Macky Sall, supported the “Lion” in a tweet: “I support Idrissa Gana Gueye. His religious convictions must be respected.”
In this 95% Muslim country and very practicing, homosexuality, punishable by a sentence of one to five years in prison, is widely considered as deviance.
In the name of the principle of free belief and respect for differences, I support Gana Gueye. What does Ms. Valérie Pecresse use to ask for sanctions once morest the Senegalese professional? Sport must unite, and for this, divisive subjects must be avoided. pic.twitter.com/Oj3V3QsaGS
— El Hamidou KASSE (@elhadjkasse) May 16, 2022
Writer El Hamidou Kassé said on Twitter that he supported Gueye “in the name of the principle of free belief and respect for differences.”
The “Y en a marre” movement, active in particular in the defense of democracy, “vigorously denounces this demonization of which he (Gueye) is a victim”, in a press release. He calls “the Ministry of Sports and the Senegalese Football Federation to provide official support to Gana in these difficult times”.
With AFP
