Homophobia in sport

One of Newsround's strong points is the amount of time devoted to sport and sport-related stories. Yesterday at 5pm the programme's top story was about former Plymouth Argyle footballer Luke McCormick, who was sent to prison after causing a motorway crash in which two children were killed. In the fifth news item yesterday Adam reported from Hull about how well Hull City is doing in the Premier League, making it to third place in the table.

Newsround viewers are well informed about almost all aspects of football. On 10 January 2008 the programme considered who should take over at Newcastle. Kevin Keegan's appointment was top story six days later, as was news on 2 September that he would leave the club. On 5 September Newsround reported that fans were threatening to stay away in a protest against the club's owners.

Other football stories covered by Newsround included Joey Barton's prison sentence for assault, an item about fans being unable to watch the England vs Croatia match because it was only broadcast live on Setanta Sports, and news of former Man United player Ben Collett's £4.3m award after a tackle in 2003 resulted in leg injuries and his early retirement.

This morning's main item was about comments by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who thinks that it is too easy for foreigners to buy British football clubs. Ore reported Sepp as saying that buying a football club now seems as easy as buying a football shirt.

One topic that so far hasn't been covered is the problem of homophobia in sport. Last week Sol Campbell was again the victim of abuse, and the incident was reported to Hampshire Police. With such comprehensive football coverage why wasn't the item reported by Newsround?


Sportsfix video report - Abuse in football