"Personally, I'm not happy that there are five players who don't play for Toulouse, who face Nantes, who are fighting with us to maintain themselves. Is it fair? No. It is the responsibility of the League to have placed this day at that time. In a press conference, the Brest coach returned to the timing of the campaign against homophobia and the absences of several players who refused to wear the rainbow jersey. A criticism of the timing a little off the mark knowing that the day was not set there by the LFP at random, but because the international day against homophobia is scheduled for Wednesday.
The sporting director of the Breton club tried to explain: "Today, teams are destitute because players do not want to play. I am not against it. We always talk about racism, homophobia, religions. Football has to stay out of all that. When you want to do this kind of thing, you don't do it when there are key games, it can distort things. »
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These remarks caused a strong reaction on social networks. On Twitter, inflammatory messages poured in. "The violence of your remarks is just crazy", "there are people who think before speaking, obviously Éric Roy is part of the other category", "it would be good to remind Éric Roy that homophobia is not an opinion but a crime". There has been a lot of criticism.
Genesio: "I'm not sure it's necessary"
Eric Roy was not the only coach of L1 to criticize the organization of this day. Rennes coach Bruno Genesio also made his remarks at a press conference after his team's victory against Troyes (4-0) on Sunday. "We are here to play football and that's what's most important," said the former Lyonnais. Everyone is free to think and do what they want. I tell you that we are against all forms of discrimination but I am not sure that it is necessary to make a day against homophobia. I think we're all aware of that and it's not worth wanting to post all the time... We can also have a lot of other causes for which we could have lots of different jerseys every week."
Asked about this at Stade 2, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra asked the club for sanctions against players who refused to wear the armband. "It's essential that we can all find ourselves in such a basic message of living together," she said. It seems that coaches also need to be convinced.