Soccer - or “football” as it is known in most of the non-AFL/NFL world - is a sport that is hugely popular throughout the world, and is gaining in popularity in North America. But what is not so well known is that many gay men and lesbians are becoming increasingly involved in the sport and playing in openly GLBT leagues.
The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) began in 1980 when the New York Ramblers organized as the first openly gay soccer team. As with many such beginnings, one team spawned other teams, which in turn created leagues for those teams to compete within, and eventually the IGLFA was formed.
By 1982, when the first Gay Games were held in San Francisco, two teams competed: One from San Francisco and one from Denver. Today there are over thirty-seven teams worldwide, which compete at IGLFA’s International Championship, commonly referred to as the IGLFA’s World Cup. Twenty-eight teams competed at the recent World Cup held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2007.
Openly lesbian referee, Kimberly Hadley, from Edmonton, a 29-year veteran of provincial, national, and international tournaments, has been involved with the IGLFA after seeing a booth promoting the 2005 Montreal Out Games at the World Master’s Cup when it was held in Edmonton.
“I’d never heard of a specifically gay and lesbian league before,” she said. “It was exciting to see FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association or International Federation of Association Football, the international body which governs soccer) supporting and promoting that.” She decided to get involved as a referee.
“I’ve refereed for 29 years,” she said. “I’ve had very few problems with being out. Any negative reaction towards me tends to be because I’m a referee and sometimes because I’m a woman…and even that is hard to pinpoint…but the opportunity to referee for a gay league was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
Soccer is still seen by many as a primarily male-oriented sport, especially at the higher level or within professional soccer.
“Women athletes tend to be more out [than male athletes]. There is still this assumption that if you’re a woman and you’re playing soccer – or a few other ’rough‘ sports - you are probably a lesbian anyway,” she chuckled. “If you’re not a lesbian, that gets to be known fairly quickly, I should think. Women involved in this sport are there to play. Questions of sexuality just shouldn’t be a factor.”
It seems to be a different story for male athletes.
The world of soccer, especially at the international level, remains a sport integrally tied up with the culture of machismo, particularly in Europe and the Latin American countries. For a male soccer player to come out while still playing would have serious repercussions.
“Male athletes have more to lose if they come out during their career,” notes Hadley. “We see it in so many sports. Mark Tewksbury talks about that in his book, about how fearful he was he would face sanctions or whatever from the International Olympic Committee if he came out or, how he would lose endorsements - that coming out would have serious repercussions on one’s career. I think that is still a valid concern for many athletes, and it’s just so wrong.”
In fact, the Brazilian men’s team were so concerned about being outed in South American media they pulled out of the tournament, as did Argentina’s women’s team.
“There is a ripple effect to that,” noted Hadley. “Because of the Brazilian team’s withdrawal, the Philadelphia Falcons had their game canceled. They spent all that time, effort, and money to get to play at the International Championship in Buenos Aires only to have the game canceled on them.”
However, change is underway. Despite the culture surrounding soccer, the response to the presence of so many gay and lesbian athletes in Buenos Aires was, in Hadley’s view, overwhelmingly positive.
“The tournament was fully supported by the Argentine government and by the City of Buenos Aires,” she said. “Of course, Buenos Aires is a cosmopolitan city and is often described as the Gay Capital of South America,” she added. “There were a few problems here and there, of course, but overall we got a great response from everyone.”
The city of Buenos Aires even went so far as to renovate six soccer fields for the World Cup and amongst the dignitaries at the Opening Ceremonies was a Vice-president of FIFA.
“Having him there was so important to all of us,” she said. “FIFA is the world organizing body of soccer so having him there on behalf of FIFA was a pretty strong indication that FIFA was prepared to accept IGLFA into their fold.”
GLBT soccer leagues have not come under FIFA up until this year. The Buenos Aires World Cup was the first time the international body had shown any interest.
“IGLFA is not yet a member of FIFA,” notes Hadley. “But FIFA’s presence at Buenos Aires indicates a definite interest.”
While there are concerns amongst some leagues within IGLFA about coming under the auspices of FIFA – mainly issues of autonomy and some general discomfort with another body’s policies and regulations – Hadley believes membership in FIFA would be a good idea.
“It would add more credibility to the GLBT leagues and teams, absolutely, but there would also be tangible benefits in terms of advertising and promotion as well as support.”
FIFA is heavily involved in anti-racism and anti-violence work, following several instances of hooliganism at various European tournaments and games. Hadley believes anti-homophobia work intersects with that work.
As a referee, Hadley was pleased to see the reaction of Argentine referees who worked in conjunction with the foreign referees.
“The Argentine Football Association has a school for referees. Their referees pitched in and helped out when needed. Because of the costs involved in traveling to Buenos Aires, we were experiencing a shortage of referees, so it was wonderful to see local refs just get in there and lend a hand.”
Given the level of machismo even amongst gay South American teams, Hadley was impressed at the reaction of the players towards her.
“I figured, as a female referee, I might have problems with some of the male players on some calls I may have to make,” she said. “But it just wasn’t an issue. They appeared to respect me and appreciate the professionalism I bring to what I do.”
“One of the South American officials said to me, in fact, he was impressed at how I handled having to card someone,” she said. “I was always polite. Some referees really get in the player’s face. That doesn’t work. You already have a pumped-up player who is now upset he is getting carded. Being aggressive towards such a player is just going to escalate things. I think my style got me that respect.”
Individual athletes at this level of competition are still amateur and do not get paid. Travel expenses for particular teams have to be covered by the teams themselves by fundraising or out-of-pocket.
“As a referee, I don’t have access to that sort of fundraising,” noted Hadley. “The team can fundraise on a variety of levels to defray the cost of going down to Buenos Aires. As an individual, I can’t do that.”
Hooking up on a team’s fundraising is not possible.
“We need to be objective and seen as bias free,” Hadley points out. “Benefiting from a particular team’s fundraising efforts creates a clear perception of bias.”
Hadley is hired by individual leagues and, in the case of international championships such as the one held in Buenos Aires in September, referees get paid the local going rate, along with a portion of the tournament fees.
“Tournament fees are approximately $50, so there’s not much there,” said Hadley. “And local rates vary widely when it comes to what referees get paid. What might be a tidy sum for an Argentinian referee isn’t to a North American referee, but you make allowances for the good of the game.”
However, she is trying to get the IGLFA Board to understand the need to adequately compensate referees. One way this could be easily accomplished, Hadley believes, is for IGLFA members to pay a slightly higher membership fee than they currently do, with the difference going towards compensating referees.
“It wouldn’t be an exorbitant amount to the players and it would make a real difference at the referee end.”
Hadley wanted to note the two Canadian teams, the Toronto Titans and the Royal Canadians, made quite an impression in Buenos Aires.
“These guys were seen by everyone as just the sweetest bunch of guys going,” she said. “And they were. Outgoing, fun, friendly…they did Canada proud.”
Toronto is currently the only city in Canada with a gay and lesbian soccer team. They will be hosting the 2nd Annual International Pride Cup in Toronto, June 20th –22nd 2008 during Pride Week (www.tipc.org).
For more information on IGLFA, go to www.iglfa.org.
