Open Letter to UEFA

In conjunction with Three Lions Pride, we wrote an Open Letter to UEFA calling on them to demand action from the Polish FA. This was sent in light of the failure of the Polish FA to respond to recent displays of banners containing anti-LGBT and homophobic language at league clubs within Poland. You can see the text of the letter below.

This is an open letter to UEFA from Pride in Football (the UK alliance of LGBT+ football supporters) and Three Lions Pride (the England Men's team LGBT+ fan group) We are deeply concerned at the apparent lack of action from the Polish FA in response to recent anti-LGBT and homophobic fan banners at clubs in Poland. LGBT+ fans (and all supporters including those from any minority community) should feel safe and welcome to watch their team wherever they are playing. UEFA's constitutional machinery champions such equality - and the criteria for eligibility to participate in its competitions specifies that member associations actively address any form of discrimination. The absence of a visible response to displays of bigotry at its league clubs in the last few weeks is a clear breach of this requirement and we suggest that the Polish national team should forfeit the right to play Sunday's game in Warsaw unless there's an immediate and unqualified condemnation of the actions ahead of the game. As fans we understand it would be devastating for both countries' supporters and players to be penalised for the behaviour of others, but it's well within the Polish FA's power to ensure urgent action is taken to redeem the situation and prevent such a sanction. We're aware of the forthcoming #EqualGame conference at Wembley in April and note that commitments shared there may be deemed less than compelling if UEFA haven't invoked suitable and timely reparation from a member association for these shameful incidents.