Marius Muller, a goalie with Lucerne, was fined $2,000 on Tuesday by the Swiss Football League after using the word gay as an insult following a match this month.
Muller and the team apologized and the league did not suspend him because they said the insult was not directed at anyone.
“Based on the words of Marius Müller, there is nothing to suggest that he is cultivating homophobic ideas. This is a statement in a thoughtless manner and without concrete and subjective intention to insult homosexual people,” a judge for the league said.
“Furthermore, his statement was not aimed at a referee or a player, or a spectator or anyone else in the stadium, but rather expressed frustration at what he sees as insufficient defensive work on the part of his teammates. The fact that Marius Müller publicly apologized after the incident and acknowledged his wrongful behavior is also taken into account positively.”
As best as I can gather from translations, Muller was frustrated with how his team played Aug. 13 in a 4-1 loss and made a comment in a postgame interview along the lines of “This gay turning away really pisses me off,” in reference to what he saw as soft defense and another reference akin to taking it up the ass. (If anyone has a better translation, let me know.)
Muller, 29, from Germany, later apologized on social media, saying, “In addition to my club, I would like to apologize for my statement on Saturday after the game. This was stupid and completely out of place. It reflected neither my attitude nor my values, which I live every day.”
FC Lucerne also issued a statement: “FC Lucerne would like to sincerely apologize for the insulting and homophobic statement made by his goalkeeper Marius Muller after the game against FC St. Gallen 1879. This statement does not correspond to the lived values of the club or its fans. FC Lucerne is clearly committed to an open and diverse society and will once again clearly address this within the team.”
The fine is appropriate, but I would have suspended him a game for lack of creativity in his choice of insults. Playing the gay card is way too cliched and tiring.
