Football
ESPN staff 7y

Calls for WSW sponsors to act as RBB continues to display anti-gay banner

#INSERT type:image caption: The Red and Black Bloc fans displayed an anti-gay banner during the Sydney derby in February. END#

Western Sydney Wanderers supporter group the Red and Black Bloc continues to defy requests to remove images from their social media accounts of the anti-gay banner unfurled during February's Sydney derby.

The banner, which displayed Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold engaging in a sex act, drew widespread condemnation at the time, and led the Wanderers to ban 14 members of their active supporter group.

After pinning a picture of the banner at the top of their Twitter feed for months, the RBB have now removed the material off their front page. However, their official Facebook site, which has some 37,000 followers, continues to display the images.

Joseph Roppolo, president of Australia's first gay soccer club the Sydney Rangers, has labelled the situation "extremely disappointing" and has called on WSW's sponsors to take action.

"It's extremely disappointing the homophobic images from February are still proudly displayed on the RBB's official Facebook and Twitter accounts," Roppolo told ESPN FC.

"The message this sends to the LGBTI community is a dangerous and divisive one: That it's OK to laugh and mock people based on sexuality.

"If this was a racist banner they would be down by now.

"We encourage sponsors such as NRMA, McDonalds and Nike to take a more active role in ensuring the clubs they choose to sponsor take their responsibilities to promote inclusion and diversity as seriously as they do internally within their organisations.

"We urge Western Sydney Wanderers to work together with Sydney Rangers FC to facilitate change, educate their fan base and to engage more proactively by building bridges with the LGBTI community rather than waiting for the next incident to occur."

Chief executive John Tsatsimas said in February that the RBB had been "put on notice" for bringing the club into disrepute, but the Wanderers are yet to respond to this latest round of calls to bring the RBB into line.

The Wanderers have been approached for comment.

^ Back to Top ^