Footballer Jahmal Howlett-Mundle shared his disappointment after a homophobic player was only fined for hurling anti+LGBTQ+ language.
Back in August 2021, the Sheppey United defender, who is openly bisexual, was tackled by Tower Hamlets FC player Ayokunle Odedoyin during a match.
During the tense exchange, Odedoyin spewed homophobic language at Howlett-Mundle – which he later confirmed on Twitter.
“Real shame that a Tower Hamlets FC player was narrow-minded enough to call me a ‘gay p*ssy’ during the game. Comments such as those will not get under my skin or throw me off my game, and I do understand that, unfortunately, it will happen again,” the 25-year-old wrote.
In response to his tweet, representatives for Tower Hamlets FC reached out to Jahmal and assured him that the incident would be investigated.
“As a club, we want you to feel we do not tolerate this type of action and will take this very seriously. Please personally message us,” they tweeted.
In June, the Bexley Magistrates’ Court found Odedoyin guilty on one count of using “threatening or abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.”
“Calling out and prosecuting homophobic language is vital to stamping out hate crime. These vile slurs have no place on our football pitches or society,” said Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Rebecca Helliwell after the trial.
This has just come to our attention, please can you give us the number of the players shirt so we can investigate and take matters into our hands. As a club we want you to feel we do not tolerate this type of action and will take this very seriously. Please personally message us.
— Tower Hamlets FC (@TowerHamletsFC) August 7, 2021
On 13 July, the court sentenced Odedoyin to 120 hours of unpaid work and ordered him to pay £1,120 in compensation and court fees.
However in a statement following the verdict, Howlett-Mundle said that justice wasn’t served.
“I don’t think justice has been done. I don’t think it’s going to deter people in the future from being homophobic,” he told BBC South East.
“With short sentences like this, how are people supposed to understand that there’s a lot of pain and suffering that does happen to people like myself and other active LGBTQ+ football players.”
Howlett-Mundle’s statement comes a year after he came out as bisexual to his teammates.
The heartfelt moment, which was captured on video, featured Howlett-Mundle discussing the ongoing stigmas surrounding the LGBTQ+ community within the predominantly heteronormative sport before telling them: “I’m still the same person.”
In a follow-up interview posted on the Sheppey United website, Howlett-Mundle said he wasn’t usually “the type of person” to announce details about his private life, but it felt like “the right time to be honest” with his loved ones in the hopes of inspiring others to follow in his footsteps.
“Football still has room for improvement in terms of players coming out and being themselves, but with the likes of Thomas Hitzlsperger and Thomas Beattie having done so, it’s slowly starting to evolve,” he explained.
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