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Brighton College team up with Albion to tackle homophobia

Former Albion skipper Bruno and under-23 player coach Andrew Crofts visited Brighton College yesterday, to show their support for the school’s latest initiative to tackle homophobia in sport.

03 October 2019

By Brighton College.
Bruno and Andrew Crofts with pupils at Brighton College on Wednesday.

The pair met with players from the school’s various sports teams, and Bruno gave advice on what players should do if they received homophobic abuse on the field. 

He said, “I was a captain for several years – and I say, speak to the captain, and they will speak to the referee. As a player, you have to try to keep playing and keep your focus.”

The issue resonates particularly powerfully in a city whose vibrant LGBT+ presence has meant fans of Albion facing years of homophobic taunting by rival supporters. These have been dramatically cut in recent seasons by rigorous clampdowns at the Amex.

Brighton College’s stand against homophobia centres on an evolving collaboration with campaigning LGBT+ rights charity Stonewall. Following the school adopting the charity’s rainbow laces initiatives across several of its teams. From Wednesday, all the first teams in the school’s major sports will now wear the ‘Supporting Stonewall’ logo.

Crofts added, “Some people still think it’s alright to say things – but it’s wrong. Everyone must speak up about it, not let it go. It’s a great thing for the school to be doing and it’s a real positive thing to be doing for society as well.”

By Brighton College.
Bruno speaks to pupils at Brighton College.

Steve Marshall-Taylor, Head of Senior School at Brighton College, added, “Each year, some of our teams are confronted by homophobic comments or taunts, simply because we are a ‘Brighton’ team. We are keen to bring this out into the open, and encourage conversations with the staff and pupils with whom we will be competing on the school sports circuit this year.”

“We feel proud to wear the Stonewall logo,” one of the boys’ footballers says, tapping into the school’s long-standing engagement with LGBT+ issues which saw Brighton College become the first independent school to have an openly 'out' head boy, and the only one to regularly take part in a Pride parade.

By Brighton College
Bruno and Andrew Crofts.

Pupils also took the chance to ask some other football questions to Bruno, now Albion’s senior development coach after retiring at the end of last season following seven years as a Seagulls player.

Asked who was the toughest player he had ever marked, Bruno went back to his days in Spain, where he played for Valencia. “Messi,” he said simply. “When we played Barcelona and my boss said I had to mark him, I said ‘Thank you…’. That was a long game!”