An incident at a Luxembourg football match has prompted national debate and official responses, after a Jeunesse Esch football player refused to shake hands with female supporters following a game in Käerjeng almost one month ago.
The Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) subsequently raised a parliamentary question, to which Minister for Gender Equality Yuriko Backes and Minister for Sport Martine Hansen have now publicly responded.
Both ministers stressed that differential greetings towards men and women on the basis of gender are problematic. In their response to the parliamentary question, they underlined that every person in sport should be treated with equal respect. They added that religious beliefs cannot be invoked to justify gender-based discrimination, which remains prohibited by law.
After the incident, the Jeunesse Esch football club reported the matter to the Luxembourg Agency for Integrity in Sport and the National Ethics Commission, and also contacted both the Ministry of Sport and the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF). At the same time, Jeunesse Esch condemned a subsequent online hate campaign directed against the player involved.
The ministers further clarified that, at present, there are no specific guidelines or recommendations for sports clubs or federations on how to deal with such situations.
