8 Gay Footballers in Premiership

[Tricky Dicky]

But given the society that football operates in, where fans that go to games are drawn from a country where many people work with, or have friends and family that are openly gay, and where gay marriage is legalised, I contend that there is a high likelihood that the issue will lose its charge very quickly.

It would be nice to think so. I think you have greater faith in people acting as a group than I do.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Then, of course, there are the bi-sexuals.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

It would be nice to think so. I think you have greater faith in people acting as a group than I do.

Perhaps. I'm standing from a place where I can see that it isn't inevitable that football supporters are fixed in their behaviour and that that fixed behaviour is intrinsically anti-gay.

Also, as with any big reveal (e.g. in work, relationships, family etc) that people want to make in their lives but may not yet have found the courage, I wonder how productive it is to talk up the problem and the 'dire' consequences of revealing, and how difficult it all is, because I think it's that negative conversation that keeps things in place.

Much more progress is available if people come from the more positive thought patterns of 'It's easy and you can do it', and what is available if people relate to themselves as bigger than a problem. Yet, in the way SeagullSongs dismissed such as a view as a 'pathetic attitude', many more people are committed to making out that it's alllllll soooooo difficult. Well, as with anything, if someone thinks something is hard, and they lose the willingness to try, then it becomes hard.

 

[robynsdad]

A surprisingly sensible discussion (with some exceptions...by 'traditional values' I assume you mean those put forward by the Tory party under Major, rather than traditional values of tolerance and respect right?)...but would this discussion be this sensible on some other football forums?

Of course it is up to individuals to make their own choices as to how open, or not, they are about their private lives. But the choice should be there to be made, without consequences. I think you'd have to be pretty lacking in imagination not to be able to understand just how fundamental our sexuality (and other people's assumptions about us) is to our everyday lives.

I tend to agree that a footballer coming out would probably be much less of a big deal than feared. I am sure the vast majority of players and fans don't care at all and it would likely blow over fairly quickly. There is also, I suspect, quite a commercial opportunity to the first player(s) and team to take that leap of faith. But there are also definitely risks and potential consequences in my opinion.

The nature of football is to use any possible weapon to get an advantage ('just a **** Balloteli') so there would certainly be some fall out before it settled. And while many of the older generation, including I suspect many football managers, have learnt to say the right things in their professional lives many will never quite accept open homosexuality as 'OK' and this underlying feeling may affect decisions that they take.

Justin Fashanu still casts a long shadow. Gay or not, a top level football player will be fiercely ambitious and competitive. They are footballers first and will not want to do anything that might have any affect on how well they play and progress in the game. As we have seen so often, disruptions in your private life, and/or having to listen to constant, personal, abuse from opposition fans can unsettle a player and take the edge of their game. And at top level margins are very fine. Even the slightest affect on performance, at the wrong time, could have a devastating affect on long term career prospects. Easy to say 'rise above it' but as humans we cannot always control our emotions and the affect they have on us. if I was a younger football player, starting to do well in the game I'd think very hard before doing anything that could knock me off course.

 

[topbanana36]

Yer right!

We don't all live in Brighton you know! Thankfully there are some parts of our country that retain traditional values.

but be careful of the sensitive flowers on NSC.

 

[Triggaaar]

A surprisingly sensible discussion (with some exceptions...by 'traditional values' I assume you mean those put forward by the Tory party under Major, rather than traditional values of tolerance and respect right?)

I read it as 'traditional prejudices'.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Not saying he's gay, but it would have been ideal if Nigel Clough was gay and came out in the early '80s. It almost certainly would have had a knock-on effect on 'Old Big 'Ead'. It would have altered Brian's attitude to Justin Fashanu while Nigel, then in probably the youth team, would have benefitted from having a dad as first team manager who (while wasn't going to show favouritism) was hardly going to disown his son. I know this is an 'if only' story but perhaps it's going to take a father and son set-up (with the father very secure in his managerial job) to create an environment conducive to a player coming out as gay.

 

[BadFish]

but be careful of the sensitive flowers on NSC.

thankfully those kind of attitudes are dying like the brain cells that come up with them. Luckily us sensitive flowers don't have to hear them very much any more apart from the odd throwback of course

 

[topbanana36]

] thankfully those kind of attitudes are dying like the brain cells that come up with them. Luckily us sensitive flowers don't have to hear them very much any more apart from the odd throwback of course

[/B]

Guess it all depends on the circles that people move in. I hear from lots of people who still have traditional values and not just the odd throwback, so horses for courses I guess.

 

[BadFish]

[/B]

Guess it all depends on the circles that people move in. I hear from lots of people who still have traditional values and not just the odd throwback, so horses for courses I guess.

Depends on your traditions as well I suppose.

 

[spring hall convert]

Yer right!

We don't all live in Brighton you know! Thankfully there are some parts of our country that retain traditional values.

I'll give you one thing, your consistency of bigotry and intolerance to anything out of the ordinary is remarkable. I genuinely do feel sorry for you, you must hate life in these more tolerant times.

Unless of course you're just a really persistent troll.

It's only going to get worse you know.

 

[robynsdad]

Depends on your traditions as well I suppose.

Well exactly. What are the mainstream 'values' in a country which has 'traditionally' pursued a path of tolerance, openness and innovation, which took an early(ish) stand against slavery, fought against fascism, pioneered the welfare state, was ahead of the game in abolishing the death penalty and making homosexuality legal. Equally of course a country which took jingoism to a level unmatched until the rise of the USA, which pursued a path of aggressive and destructive colonialism and which was absolutely central to the rise of the individualistic neo-liberal model which now dominates the global economy.

We can all agree, or disagree, with where the country is moving, but to cite 'tradition' is fatuous.
As is the use of the word 'fatuous' of course.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Well exactly. What are the mainstream 'values' in a country which has 'traditionally' pursued a path of tolerance, openness and innovation, which took an early(ish) stand against slavery, fought against fascism, pioneered the welfare state, was ahead of the game in abolishing the death penalty and making homosexuality legal. Equally of course a country which took jingoism to a level unmatched until the rise of the USA, which pursued a path of aggressive and destructive colonialism and which was absolutely central to the rise of the individualistic neo-liberal model which now dominates the global economy.

We can all agree, or disagree, with where the country is moving, but to cite 'tradition' is fatuous.
As is the use of the word 'fatuous' of course.

Very, very good points in this and your earlier contribution to the discussion.

 

[brakespear]

I have no interest in any footballers sexuality whatsoever. Regardless of club, division or status. I'm only interested in how good they are at football, how they conduct themselves. Whether they like girls or boys is no concern of mine, nor should it be. So my question is, would anyone care if a footballer came out? The best thing to do would be to not even raise an eyebrow, wouldn't it? Sexuality just isn't important.

Pretty much how I feel about it - there is no need to know if a player is gay, straight, asexual or whatever - just whether he/she is good at football, the rest is up to them

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

One way to come out to fans might be through the Focus Q & As in the match programme, e.g:

Best friend in football: Ashley Barnes.
Biggest influence on career: My dad.
Favourite food: Steak and ale pie.
Favourite TV show: X-Factor.
Miscellaneous likes: Men.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

One way to come out to fans might be through the Focus Q & As in the match programme, e.g:

Best friend in football: Ashley Barnes.
Biggest influence on career: My dad.
Favourite food: Steak and ale pie.
Favourite TV show: X-Factor.
Miscellaneous likes: Men.

A posting like that will only end one way.....being ridiculed for liking X factor

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

A posting like that will only end one way.....being ridiculed for liking X factor

Might help to take the edge off ridicule for other reasons

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Does their sexual preference really effect how they play footy....no.
Who cares?

they might be attracted to another player on the other side and may not give it their full effort
regards
DR

 

[father_and_son]

I don't understand why we, the footballing public, need to know anyway? The 8 players are obviously comfortable with their clubs and team mates knowing, those others that matter in their lives must know as well, so why do we need to know? I am sure that there have been loads of gay footballers in the past that played without it being an issue, so why is it a big deal now?

It would be an issue for the young gay man [who's not "out"] supporting that club who feels he has no positive role models in his world showing him its okay to admit publically you're gay.
Like it or not, footballers are heroes to many young boys and girls and a positive gay role model can only be a good thing.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Just found this excerpt in the Justin Fashanu biography:

John Robertson: 'Are you gay?'
Justin Fashanu: 'Give us a kiss and I'll tell you.'