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Football chiefs tackle homophobia

Drewonde Bascome

Football’s governing body has reminded its members that it will not tolerate discrimination after an offensive tweet was posted from the account of a Bermuda footballer.

Drewonde Bascome told The Royal Gazette he had nothing to do with the tweet, which referred to the landmark Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage last week and the news that a gay couple planned to apply for permission to wed here.

The post read: “Ay buh these freaks are getting out of hand.”

Bermuda Football Association general secretary David Sabir, in response to questions from this newspaper, described the comment as “unfortunate”.

He said: “The BFA does not condone the use of such comments on the part of any player, coach, fan or any member of the BFA. We do not believe that Mr Bascome’s comments amount to discrimination against any particular person.

“We wish to remind all members of the BFA that discrimination of any kind against a club, player, fan, private person or group of people on account of ethnic origin, gender, language, nationality, religion or political affiliation, or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion from the BFA.”

Mr Bascome, son of Bermuda coach Andrew Bascome, insisted he did not post the tweet, which appeared this week on his account, @RealNigga105.

The 24-year-old Dandy Town forward said: “I had left my phone down while I was at work and one of my boys picked it up and went on my Twitter and saw what they saw and then commented.

“When I came back to get my phone, I saw they were laughing and I deleted the post as soon as I saw it.

“If it was me, I wouldn’t have deleted it. I could care less what people do with their lives.”

Last week’s court decision will allow gay couples to wed in Bermuda for the first time, after a judge concluded that denying them the service of marriage was in breach of their human rights.