Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi wrote a message on his rainbow armband
Marc Guehi wrote another message on his rainbow armband
Crystal Palace and Ipswich captains Marc Guehi and Sam Morsy repeated their stance over rainbow armbands in midweek, with one facing an FA ban as a result.
Premier League clubs are showing their support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport by participating in charity Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign between November 29 and December 5.
Egypt international Morsy opted not to wear the rainbow captain’s armband as Ipswich were beaten 1-0 by both Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.
Ipswich stood by their skipper, explaining that the decision was “due to his religious beliefs” as a practising Muslim.
Manager Kieran McKenna added after the Palace defeat: “As the club statement said, we want to be an inclusive club. We are working really, really hard on that. Within the club, within the playing group, there has been a lot of good work and want to continue that.
“But at the same time the club has respected Samy’s individual decision based on his religious beliefs. I think that’s a fair assessment.”
The point stands: tolerating intolerance is never the way and if Morsy wouldn’t wear the armband, Ipswich should have found a new captain.
But as the rainbow armbands are not compulsory to wear, Morsy will not face the same FA scrutiny as Guehi, who again wrote on his.
The centre-half followed up his ‘I love Jesus’ message in the Newcastle draw by writing ‘Jesus loves you’ on the armband for the Ipswich game, and is ‘likely to face punishment’ as a result.
Reports suggesting the FA are ‘investigating’ the situation after giving both Palace and Guehi a formal reprimand at the weekend, with the latter now ‘believed to be facing a potential ban’ for contravening strict rules about not displaying any kind of religious messages.
Oliver Glasner was in full support of his captain, saying: “We respect every single player, especially Marc, who is our captain. He is a great guy, very humble and we shouldn’t make it bigger than it is.
“He is very respectful to everyone in the club. In football we are all against discrimination, it’s a great campaign.
“We spoke about it, we speak often as he is my captain. He is no child, he is an adult, he has his opinion and we accept and respect every opinion. The quote of this campaign is to be tolerant and Marc is very tolerant.”
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Guehi’s father John, a church minister, told the MailOnline: “I do believe in what the Bible says, Jesus loves everyone, and, in my opinion, Marc did not offend anyone with what he wrote.
“We are so thick-skinned in this country, God is everywhere in this country, and I know things change because of different beliefs but it is still a Christian country. Therefore, I don’t see what is offensive.
“He is a devout Christian; the son of a church minister and he accepted to put the armband on to welcome everyone in football but the problem we have now is that players are being used as spokespeople now.
“Marc said ‘Yes’ and did the right thing by wearing it but people are having a go at him for what he wrote, he accepted to wear the armband, he was just trying to balance the message. He was saying: ‘You gave me the armband, as a Christian I don’t believe in your cause, but I will put it on’.
“Morsy didn’t put it on because he said it was against his religion but more seems to be being said about Marc than him.”
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