Spain’s first openly gay football referee quits over homophobic abuse
Jesús Tomillero, Spain’s first gay football referee has quit over homophobic abuse, saying he “cannot take any more”.
The referee, who works in the Andalucían regional league, claims that during a match between Portuense and San Fernando Isleño on Saturday (May 7) he gave a penalty, only for someone from the visiting team started to shout that he was “that poof who was on the telly”, before telling him: “You can stick the goal up your a**, you f**king poof.”
Tomillero told Spanish newspaper, El Español: “The game was going on normally until the kit man of the local team got angry about an offside offence and began to protest from the sidelines without stopping.”
He explained that attempts at calming the man down proved useless as he continued to shout: “You’re a c**ksucker and you take it in the a**, you f*got. I’ll wait for you outside.”
The player, who remains unnamed, only received a nine-game ban for his remarks, something which has also incensed Tomillero, who came out publicly in March last year after lodging a similar complaint against homophobic abuse from players.
Tomillero said lack of repercussions for players was “absolutely incredible”, especially given that the sport is setting an example for adolescents.
He added that the crowd laughing at the remarks was the worst thing about the incident, he decided to leave the sport for good soon after the match.
The news comes after last month’s Attitude cover star and American footballer, Michael Sam, revealed he believes that coming out derailed his NFL career.
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