paolo
04-22-2008, 01:04 AM
Soccer 'NOT FOR GAYS', MOGGI SAYS
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-detailed.asp?newsid=9286
(ANSA) - Rome, April 21 - Former Juventus director
general Luciano Moggi enraged gay rights associations on
Monday after claiming there were ''no gay men'' in Italian
football.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news/photoM/2008-04-21_121200409.jpg
''A homosexual cannot do the job of a soccer player -
the world of soccer is not made for them,'' said Moggi, who
is currently serving a five-year ban from the sport as the
main culprit in the 2006 Serie A match-fixing scandal.
''In the teams where I have been we have never had them.
I wouldn't have wanted a homosexual player, and I wouldn't
take one on today either,'' he told Internet news programme
KlausCondicio.
''I don't know if the players are against having them in
the team; I certainly am''.
Moggi said he may be ''old fashioned'', but that he
believed that gay men would not fit in to the sport.
''Players go nude under the shower,'' he said.
Gay rights group Arcigay dismissed Moggi's comments as
''ridiculous'', saying they were an insult to the
intelligence of gays and lesbians.
''Moggi knows perfectly well that there are many gay
soccer players who play the sport at a professional
level,'' said Arcigay national president Aurelio Mancuso.
''The reason it is not possible to add them up is simply
because they are veiled and hide their sexuality for
commercial reasons relating to image,'' he said.
''He's just pretending not to know''.
Arcigay's head of sport, Fabrizio Marrazzo, gave greater
weight to Moggi's comments, which he described as ''very
serious''.
''The sport should be a means of bringing people
together rather than excluding them, and every year very many
people abandon it because of the homophobia that exists in
their teams thanks to people like Moggi,'' he said.
''Affirmations like this do nothing but fire up a
climate of hate,'' Marrazzo added.
Moggi is the alleged ringleader of attempts to arrange
friendly match officials for some teams' games in the 2004-05
season.
Juventus were relegated and stripped of the 2005 and
2006 titles because of the scandal while AC Milan, Lazio,
Fiorentina and Reggina were docked league points.
Moggi is among 37 people facing criminal charges related
to Calciopoli in Naples.
He is also on trial in Rome along with his son
Alessandro and four others over allegations that Moggi
junior's player management agency exerted an illegal hold
over the Serie A transfer market.
In July last year Moggi said he intended to return to
football as soon as his ban came to an end.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-detailed.asp?newsid=9286
(ANSA) - Rome, April 21 - Former Juventus director
general Luciano Moggi enraged gay rights associations on
Monday after claiming there were ''no gay men'' in Italian
football.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news/photoM/2008-04-21_121200409.jpg
''A homosexual cannot do the job of a soccer player -
the world of soccer is not made for them,'' said Moggi, who
is currently serving a five-year ban from the sport as the
main culprit in the 2006 Serie A match-fixing scandal.
''In the teams where I have been we have never had them.
I wouldn't have wanted a homosexual player, and I wouldn't
take one on today either,'' he told Internet news programme
KlausCondicio.
''I don't know if the players are against having them in
the team; I certainly am''.
Moggi said he may be ''old fashioned'', but that he
believed that gay men would not fit in to the sport.
''Players go nude under the shower,'' he said.
Gay rights group Arcigay dismissed Moggi's comments as
''ridiculous'', saying they were an insult to the
intelligence of gays and lesbians.
''Moggi knows perfectly well that there are many gay
soccer players who play the sport at a professional
level,'' said Arcigay national president Aurelio Mancuso.
''The reason it is not possible to add them up is simply
because they are veiled and hide their sexuality for
commercial reasons relating to image,'' he said.
''He's just pretending not to know''.
Arcigay's head of sport, Fabrizio Marrazzo, gave greater
weight to Moggi's comments, which he described as ''very
serious''.
''The sport should be a means of bringing people
together rather than excluding them, and every year very many
people abandon it because of the homophobia that exists in
their teams thanks to people like Moggi,'' he said.
''Affirmations like this do nothing but fire up a
climate of hate,'' Marrazzo added.
Moggi is the alleged ringleader of attempts to arrange
friendly match officials for some teams' games in the 2004-05
season.
Juventus were relegated and stripped of the 2005 and
2006 titles because of the scandal while AC Milan, Lazio,
Fiorentina and Reggina were docked league points.
Moggi is among 37 people facing criminal charges related
to Calciopoli in Naples.
He is also on trial in Rome along with his son
Alessandro and four others over allegations that Moggi
junior's player management agency exerted an illegal hold
over the Serie A transfer market.
In July last year Moggi said he intended to return to
football as soon as his ban came to an end.