http://www.football365.com/john_nicholson/0,17033,8746,00.html Steven Davies, the England wicket-keeper came out as gay this week. The sound of no-one being bothered was deafening. Rather, he got the support of his captain and team-mates. Would this happen in football? I think it probably would. Or I hope so. Most of us know people who are gay, or at least who like a bit of butter on both sides of their toast don't we? Are we bothered? No, probably not. In the last 30 years this has been a profound change in society. In the 70s, being gay wasn't something many people would admit to. It was a lifestyle conducted in the shadows and one which the rest of us knew very little about. If you were a bloke the only acceptable homosexuality was between women, and then only pretty women on celluloid. We never thought we'd know any actual real-life lesbians. As far as I knew, they didn't exist on Teesside. Perhaps there was a local by-law, or maybe the pollution from ICI Wilton had some sort of de-lesbianing affect on the local women's DNA. I did know a gay bloke who is now a prominent figure in the arts. Not that I knew he was gay at the time, which considering I spent a drunken night in the same bed as him might have led to a social faux pas. However, I passed out before my heterosexuality was put to test. However, even if I had known, I wouldn't have been especially bothered, not because I was some uber-liberal, open-minded kid but because of all the things to be worried about as a teenager - most of which revolved around the many threats of violence from boys and sexual humiliation by girls - some lad fancying other lads was very low down on your list of things that might impinge on your life in any way. So I reasoned, why be bothered about it any more than one would be bothered about someone who likes a different colour or band to yourself. This however was not a popular stance. To be a proper bloke in the north in the 70s and indeed into the 80s, you really had to be offended by such matters and loudly express your concern. That was the hard-line according to Proper Men. Proper Men who liked Queen and Judas Priest, I might add. Such macho behaviour was easy enough for us to ignore and to mock, but less so for blokes I knew who were gay. For them, it was a real threat both mental and physical. Since some people were prepared to kick them to the point of unconsciousness if they discovered their sexuality, they were, rightly, paranoid. Clearly this was unfair, unjust and downright evil. This is where the change of attitudes really began to take hold around the mid 80s, and for the next decade people who felt it fundamentally unfair not only supported their gay friends but were prepared to argue and fight for their rights both socially and politically many of which eventually came to pass. Today, many of us move in social circles where the idea that someone would be anti-gay would be not just unacceptable but genuinely shocking in the same way that when we hear east European football crowds making monkey noises at our black players is shocking. So in this context it's not surprising that Steven Davies announcement has not caused any great social stirrings. However, in the world of football, still no-one dares admit to being gay. Why? Clearly, in a sport that employs over 2000 professionals, some footballers are likely to be gay. Is anyone really bothered apart from a few bigots? Two years on from rugby man Gareth Thomas' similar announcement, which was heralded as a breakthrough at the time, there is still no sign of any such thing happening in the macho world of the footballer's locker room Ironically, this comes at a time when footballers behaviour would have been described by the 1970s macho fan as that of a bloody pansy, poufter or nancy boy. Feigning injury, showing pain, walking into the ground with a man bag, wearing after shave, using moisturiser, spending money of a fancy hair cut and perhaps most of all, crying when you lose or bloody well crying when you win would have all been construed as the behaviour of someone who was not quite a real man, if not an actual homosexual. Perhaps these are the things that Big JT was urging his team-mates to cast aside when they 'man up?' We all understand that a football dressing room is likely to be an alpha male, macho environment, but that doesn't exclude gay men per se does it? Some gay blokes I've known are alpha males and macho - much more so than limp-wristed, poetry-loving, girl-chasing me. So just why is there such fear in the football community of coming out? People might fear getting stick from the crowd - but in the macho world of rugby league, when some Castleford fans made homophobic chants against Gareth Thomas, they were reported by other fans, banned from the ground and the club fined. Now if that can happen in the unreconstructed working class towns of the old West Yorkshire coalfield, it can happen anywhere. Most of us wouldn't tolerate such chanting any more than we'd tolerate racist chanting. Times have changed and football fans overall reactions shouldn't be judged by its most Neanderthal elements. Surely most footballers, even those who fancy themselves as gangsta-rappers, in their non-football lives know someone who isn't straight. Surely we're all pretty grown up about this now aren't we? I'm sure there'd still be dressing room banter about it but would it really be unbearable and nasty any more? Some managers are known to think it would be bad for team morale. Why? Is everyone going to be worried they might get bummed in the showers? Come on. Surely we've gone beyond such inanity? Maybe it is the fear that it would be that bad is actually what inhibits those players who are gay from revealing the fact. We know some footballers are a bit backward and unsophisticated; men whose characters are shaped by and follow the lead of the loudest voices but equally there are many footballers who are not idiots and who would not be a boorish swine if a teammate came out. It's 2011 and the fact we still we have no gay footballers who feel able to be who they are in public, the way their heterosexual team mates take for granted, is really rather shocking but perhaps above all, is really rather sad. It's time for it to change.
Well being as my son is gay, I have no problem with people who finally accept their sexuality, i just wish more so called " FAMOUS PEOPLE " would come out, then perhaps the world would be a better place.
Gay Footballers are probably told to keep schtum about it as they will untold amount of abuse if they came out. Sadly that is the world we live in.
As a person it doesn't bother me one iota. I don't see why sexuality should have anything to do with how you view a person in my opinion, whether it's on the pitch and you're competing against them or in the dressing room with them. You HAVE to be able to get on with your team-mates and create that team spirit, it doesn't matter if they're Muslim, gay, pink, black or even blue. You treat them as your friends, team-mates and generally good people because you get on with them. I do see how it could pose problems within opposition supporters, but like anything footballers these days have to be able to withstand any abuse that they may recieve and be professional in the job that they're doing as with anything.
Being the least homophobic person in the world; "As long as the person treats you and others with respect - that should be all." I mean you guys all know I am female, but I have a feeling my brother is probably gay, I just don't think he has the confidence to out himself just yet, however I honestly don't care, I reckon if your gay or bisexual or hetrosexual, it just does not matter at all. It's your choice. HOWEVER We live in a world where gay footballers will get torment from crowds sadly, which is not good enough.
There must be gay footballers around, are there any former players that are definitely known to be gay? Read somewhere that John Fashanu was, no idea if it's true though, could be mixing him up with his brother Justin.
Yeah, I heard something about Fashnu I think........ Immature fans will always insult them - its a darn shame, a disgrace actually.
There were rumours of Graham Le Saux being gay, but he outright denied it. He says it was started as a rumour because he used to read the Guardian!
The le Saux thing was schoolboy nonsense. A happily married man that commited the crime of being well eductaed. There must be many footballers who are gay and it's a ****ing disgrace they cannot be open about their sexuality. It's not my cup of tea but it makes no difference to me because I have half a brain. Football is a backward place but I'm sure all the players themselves know who their gay teammates are but they also have to keep this nonsensicle silence. What would really be great is if a great player like Messi or a so-called hard player like JT, although they are both not gay, came out. People need to get agrip. Whether you like it or not there is a good chance one of your relatives is gay. Loads of mine are.
Sexuality should never be an issue, but there are people who feel threatened by anything they conceive to be different from themselves. There are also too many people who like to take a cheap shot.
Rob Halford Michael Stipe Ian Mckellen Matt Lucas Stephen Fry Derren Brown Simon Amstell. None of these gay celebrities bother me, so why should a gay footballer? You are what you are, do what you want. Just don't talk to me about bumming men. Keep that behind closed doors! Although it would annoy me if loads of footballer saw this thread, all came out and did interviews on MOTD all sounding like Graham Norton.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/mar/12/the-secret-footballer-gay-players I am not gay. But then I don't feel that I should have to "come out" and say as much. It is nobody's business but my own. The cricketer Steven Davies's recent declaration has triggered a spate of absurd media debates in an all too predictable attempt to uncover why the newspapers, TV, radio and websites have no gay footballer to chew up and spit out. It is starting to feel as though the fault is with us players for not producing a gay professional on demand. Just to be clear, there is more chance of a player's civil partner saying: "Just get me a card this year" than the Premier League outing its first gay footballer. For a start, look at the media coverage that already surrounds the topic despite not even having anybody specific to hold up as an example ââ¬â who would want to be at the centre of that? If we apply the law of averages theory, it is highly likely there are gay players among the professional ranks of football, despite its culture. That said (and with apologies for stereotyping here), anyone watching players arriving at a match for the first time could be forgiven for thinking the game was played exclusively by homosexual men, such is the attention to detail given to hair placement, general attire and a luxury gentleman's wash bag ââ¬â don't even get me started on some of the things I have seen produced from the latter. The reality is that I don't "officially" know any gay footballers, although I suspect I have been only a Jäger bomb or two away from a team-mate confiding in me. What we are all agreed on, however, is that there is principally one very good reason that gay players would keep their sexual allegiance firmly in the locker: the fans. For the most part football supporters give out stick that qualifies as banter. But every now and again an element will cross the line. From abusing players for their skin tone to their nationality, certain fans will grab hold of anything if they can get a cheap laugh and be able to tell their mates down the pub later on what they shouted out. It takes an awful lot to sicken me on a football pitch, probably because I am desensitised, having heard it all before. In certain sections of some grounds I am so used to hearing discriminatory chants that those people may as well be shouting out their weekly shopping list. There is one man at a London club who shouts the same thing at me from the same seat every season. Now I just smile and he laughs, happy that I have heard him. Unfortunately, whereas I am now hardened, others are still forming their protective shell. I saw a talented young kid reduced to tears in the changing room because of the abuse he took from a couple of buffoons a few years ago. He never told anyone what was said and nobody ever asked him but, thinking back, I can definitely guess. So would you come out and then travel around the country playing football in front of tens of thousands of people who hate you? I wouldn't. I would be in the dressing room feeling hugely depressed that certain components to our great game make it all but impossible for me to do anything other than keep quiet. I would also have in mind the gay footballer Justin Fashanu, who tragically took his own life in 1998. Thankfully football has moved on since those days, or has it? Rewind to Fratton Park, September 2008, when Sol Campbell was subjected to homophobic abuse and a section of Spurs supporters were caught on film singing: "Sol, Sol, wherever you may be, Not long now until lunacy, We won't give a **** if you are hanging from a tree, You are a Judas **** with HIV." Apologies if you didn't like reading those words. But spare a thought for how Campbell felt when he was listening to them. Sadly, I'd say the general abuse players receive hasn't got much better. It is very rare that there is any appreciation of the opposition's great play, a stunning goal is normally met with a thousand hand gestures from the stands and our best talent is routinely booed with the sort of vigour and hatred that, I feel, offers us a precious insight into society as a whole. Amazingly, having said all of that, I'm pretty sure a gay player would have few problems coming out to his team-mates if he were offered a hypothetical, "nobody outside the team will ever find out" clause. It isn't because we're a superior breed ââ¬â even I wouldn't take on that argument with half the England team conspiring against me. Quite simply, it is because we're all about looking after ourselves and, consequently, we try not to get too involved with other players' trials and tribulations. The changing room is a very harsh place to survive ââ¬â say what you like about footballers' lack of intelligence (and people often do), the banter is razor-sharp and anything out of the ordinary is seized upon in a flash. But this is precisely the reason why a gay player would feel comfortable coming out here. A footballer is a footballer, it doesn't matter if you are black, white, straight or gay, players are at ease in this environment, where they are used to piss-taking. But the terraces are a different ball game. We are not at home here and are very much on our guard around fans. The changing room offers a strange, familiar sanctuary where the preferred etiquette is to have a quick laugh, look as if you know what's going on and get on with things before anybody starts asking uncomfortable questions such as: "Are you gay, mate?"
Wouldn't bother me in the slightest as most of the gay blokes I know are really funny, (humourous). I can understand why they wouldn't come out though as the opposition fans would tear them to shreds. As an example slightly off topic i witnessed our fans chanting "peado" to Dave jones when we played Cardiff and I felt really sorry for the guy because if you read the story of how this rumour got started it was really unfair on him and his family and his father died of a broken heart because of it and never lived to see the truth of it all! Off topic I know but these are the tragic consequences of why players keep things private!
Completeley agree with Waddo on this and i didnt know about Dave Jones dad a tragic story indeed.Nice to see he has got through this and is doing a good job at Cardiff.
