Amsterdam football club Ajax has turned down an invitation to take part in this year’s Gay Pride boat parade, the AD reports on Tuesday.

The invitation from the organisers followed comments made by coach Frank de Boer, who said in an interview one reason there are few gay men in professional football is because they tend to have different motor skills to straight men. De Boer later apologised for the comments.
‘Ajax thinks it is important to tackle homophobia but you won’t find us on a boat,’ club spokesman Miel Brinkhuis told the AD, adding that this is an issue for all football clubs.
This year’s Gay Pride falls on the same weekend that Ajax takes on PSV for the Johan Cruijff trophy. ‘You can’t expect the team to party on a boat the day before that,’ Brinkhuis is quoted as saying.