“Our convictions are stronger than a game of football. Sorry to have informed you so late.” There is nothing wrong with someone standing on his convictions even when they are unpopular, but one wonders whether the Muslim team knew about the existence of Paris Foot Gay when the Muslims joined the league. Did they know and were hoping to use this incident as another occasion to press the primacy of Islamic values over Western ones? Ultimately, this is a matter of conviction indeed: will Europe follow its own, or bow to Muslim sensibilities in this and other, far more pressing matters?
“Muslim side spurns gay football challenge,” from AFP, October 6 (thanks to all who sent this in):
CRETEIL, France — A gay football club in a Paris suburb have protested to local league chiefs after being snubbed for a scheduled match by a fellow league side.
Paris Foot Gay (PFG) were set to play fellow Creteil side Bebel, who are composed of mainly Muslim players, but the evening before the match Bebel cried off.
PFG said they received an e-mail from Bebel which said they could not honour the match because it was “against their principles”.
“Sorry, but because of the name of your team and in keeping with the principles of the team, which is a team of practising Muslims, we cannot play against you,” said the e-mail, according to PFG’s co-founder and current president Pascal Brethes.
It added: “Our convictions are stronger than a game of football. Sorry to have informed you so late.”
PFG believe the decision was “homophobic”, and have threatened to press charges “if Bebel continue to carry on like this”, according to Brethes….