Homophobia in football

[Doore]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/10/can-gay-footballers-come-out

Interesting article.  I agree to a certain extent with Pat Nevin - as tough as it sounds, gay footballers need to comne out and we can assess the reaction by the sport, the players and the fans.

Any thoughts people of the TEF?

[Bogus Dave]

Just on numbers alone there must be more batty footballers that haven't publically came out. Aren't one in 5 of us gay? Or likely to get cancer? I can;'t remmeber which, but there must be nearly 1000 profesional footballers in this land, and not one is openly gay.

[spacey]

There aren't any. Gays are rubbish at football, everyone knows that.

[Simon Pieman]

I really couldn't care less if some footballers are gay or not, or whether they are still in the closet or not.

Frankly it's all a bit of banter, no worse than calling a player a fat bastard or a wanker. It's designed to put players off, direct a bit of verbal abuse at them to get them thinking about the crowd and not the game. It's probably the people who don't go to live games who think that the majority of the crowd are actually deriding a person's sexuality rather than doing what I explained.

I can see why a player wouldn't come out, it gives the crowd a good excuse to direct some of this at specific players. But really the crowd will always pick on something anyway, not necessarily the gay thing. Besides, why should a gay player come out publicly? It's their life, if they want to keep it private then that's quite a refreshing change from the footballers who flaunt their lives around because they have a bit of money.

[Jamiesfuturewife]

Who are the gayers at Swindon then??

[jayohaitchenn]

Why the fuck do bummers feel the need to "come out" anyway? It annoys the shit out of me.

EVERYONE! EVERYONE! LISTEN!!!! I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY!!!

I'MMMMMMMMMMMM STRAAAIIIIIGHHHTTT!!!!!!

Well done.

[herthab]

You're such a bitch John. I could scratch your eyes out.

[Doore]

The debate goes deeper than that though Si Pie.  There is a suspicion that homophobia in football is now at the stage that racism was decades ago.  One theory runs that gay players don't want to come out, not because they fear a bit of abuse from the crowd (all footballers, as you say, have to deal with this), but because they believe that homophobia is so rooted at the heart of the game that coming out could actually harm their career prospects.  Perhaps they fear that some managers won't want "one of them" in his team, or that the presence of a gay player may cause problems or suspicions in the dressing room.

I'm not saying that is the case, but it could be one reason that no player has come out since Justin Fashanu - a case that speaks for itself.

If this is not the situation, we will only find out when a top player does come out and his career isn't damaged by it.  If it is the situation, then its very sad that someone should have to hide a big part of his identity from his colleagues and employers to advance his career.

[Fred Elliot]

Who are the gayers at Swindon then??

Charlie Austin runs like a batty boy, but who gives a fuck ! 

[Spy]

Homophobia is rampant is football and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.

[Fred Elliot]

Homophobia is rampant is football and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.

Shut up Gaylord

[sonicyouth]

if justin fashanu had not been vilified in the way he was, ultimately resulting in his death, i think there would be less stigma around gay footballers today.

whoever does eventually become the first high profile footballer to come out will be a very brave man...

[herthab]

It's not like racism in football at all. People's skin colour being different is natural and normal.

Homesexuality is neither. Why don't we get footballers with any kind of perversion to 'come out'?

Some things are better left in the closet......

[Doore]

It's not like racism in football at all. People's skin colour being different is natural and normal.

Homesexuality is neither. Why don't we get footballers with any kind of perversion to 'come out'?

Some things are better left in the closet......

You can no more choose your sexuality than you can your skin colour - so in fact it is the same.  Your idea than homosexuality is a "choice" and a "perversion" is exactly the kind of attitude that shows that football is still, to coin a phrase, "in the dark ages" when it comes to sexual orientation.

[jayohaitchenn]

You can no more choose your sexuality than you can your skin colour - so in fact it is the same.  Your idea than homosexuality is a "choice" and a "perversion" is exactly the kind of attitude that shows that football is still, to coin a phrase, "in the dark ages" when it comes to sexual orientation.

That's your opinion, not a fact. Some normal, well-adjusted and well-rounded people believe homoexuality to be a disease or brain damage of some sort.

That is also an opinion.