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Tuesday 27 October 2020
Tom Harald Hagen is a role model for his boss, the Norwegian minister for equal opportunities thinks the referee is “fantastic”. The Referee makes his homosexuality public and eagerly awaits the “positive consequences” of his decision.
Norwegian top referee Tom Harald Hagen was one of the first leading referees in football to go public with his homosexuality. “I feel the time is ripe and I can’t imagine it will have any other than positive consequences for me,” said the 42-year-old FIFA referee in an interview with the local Norwegian newspaper “Glåmdalen”. Being gay has always been a natural part of his life. In Norway, Hagen is one of the most famous referees in the country.
On Sunday he led the Elite match between Vålerenga and Kristiansund, in which Kristiansund forward Flamur Kastrati Vålerenga coach Dag-Eilev Fagermo called “jævla soper” – which can roughly be translated as “damn fagot”. Kastrati has played for VfL Osnabrück, MSV Duisburg and Erzgebirge Aue in Germany, among others.
“This is the tip of the irony that I, of all people, have booed this game,” Hagen told the newspaper. He didn’t hear Kastrati’s statements during the match, but he didn’t want to condemn him either. Presumably the claim was made unconsciously, perhaps it belongs to the slang in the individual parts of the football community. “But we have to take it off,” Hagen said. He is the first man of top Norwegian football who has decided to leave.
The referee has received a lot of public support and has been described as a role model by many. “It is fantastic that Tom Harald is sharing his story and is helping to pave the way for greater tolerance and acceptance for diversity in sport,” said Minister of Culture and Equality, Abid Raja, of the Verdens Gang newspaper. . The Norwegian Football Association also congratulated Hagen on his decision, head referee Terje Hauge called him a “role model”.
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