An American soccer team rallied around a gay player after he was subjected to homophobic abuse during a game.
Couper Gunn, who is a defenseman and team captain on the Colby-Sawyer College men’s soccer team, the Chargers, was competing in a match against the Rivier University Raiders when the incident took place.
Right before halftime during the 22 September game, one of the opposing team’s players approached Gunn, who was wearing a rainbow-coloured armband.
“Get that f****t armband off of you,” Gunn says he was told.
In the immediate aftermath of the verbal assault, Gunn went to the locker room during halftime and burst into tears.
“I was upset I’d been called that, but I was more upset because I was thinking about all the queer kids who that kid comes into contact with every day,” the player told Outsports. “He perpetuates that, even if he didn’t mean it, using the ‘F’ word.
“And I was just so sad that someone like that exists, who would use that language. I was present with how unsafe and how unwelcome that made me feel for a few minutes.”
When the game resumed, Gunn’s teammates and coaches immediately stepped up to show their support for him.
Bob Reasso, the team’s coach for the last three months, told him: “Look at me. “You’re a very brave man. You’re a strong man.”
Lucas Boetsch, the co-captain of the Chargers, said: “The first real emotion was just fury at the audacity of someone using a homophobic slur like that. It was outrageous to us.”
Despite the game being at a 0-0 score prior to the incident, when it recommenced after halftime Gunn’s team quickly kicked into gear.
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