I was listening to the radio last night, and the subject of gay footballers cropped up, followed by the revelation, that recently Max Clifford was approached by 3 premiership footballers, who openly admitted that they were gay. And he advised them not to come out, due to the fact that "football is steeped in viscous homophobia".
What I don't understand is, why is it different for footballers, compared to other sportsmen/sportswomen? For example, cricket batsman Steven Davies has come out and admitted it, and was fully supported by his colleagues. Rugby player Gareth Thomas has admitted it too, with no consequence.
However a tragic example in football, is Justin Fashanu, who suffered years of terrible abuse, and took his own life in 1998. And the attempts to tackle homophobia by the FA by making a film tackling the subject, had to be withdrawn, due to the inability to attract high profile players. Surely if the armed forces can adapt to such changes regarding this subject, then why can football not do the same?
To me homophobic chants, and homophobic "banter" has no place in todays game, but how can it be stopped, if players are too scared to come out? As Gordon Taylor said "Football is a macho world but then so was the armed forces, and that has changed." If your favourite footballer came out, would you think any less of him? I sure has **** wouldn't. I couldn't care less if they are straight, gay, bi...whatever. I want a player to be happy at the club, and doing well.
But by the looks of it, the shadow of what happened to Justin Fashanu still looms overhead, and instead of coming out, the fear instilled by such an event, prevents a player from doing so. And if indeed, there is also homophobia within a team dressing room, then the problem is much deeper than we realised.
Would like other peoples views on this. Should players come out or would it be in their best interests to keep it to themselves? And who is to blame for it? Abusive fans? Team-mates? Or is it the FA for not doing more sooner, to tackle the problem?
What I don't understand is, why is it different for footballers, compared to other sportsmen/sportswomen? For example, cricket batsman Steven Davies has come out and admitted it, and was fully supported by his colleagues. Rugby player Gareth Thomas has admitted it too, with no consequence.
However a tragic example in football, is Justin Fashanu, who suffered years of terrible abuse, and took his own life in 1998. And the attempts to tackle homophobia by the FA by making a film tackling the subject, had to be withdrawn, due to the inability to attract high profile players. Surely if the armed forces can adapt to such changes regarding this subject, then why can football not do the same?
To me homophobic chants, and homophobic "banter" has no place in todays game, but how can it be stopped, if players are too scared to come out? As Gordon Taylor said "Football is a macho world but then so was the armed forces, and that has changed." If your favourite footballer came out, would you think any less of him? I sure has **** wouldn't. I couldn't care less if they are straight, gay, bi...whatever. I want a player to be happy at the club, and doing well.
But by the looks of it, the shadow of what happened to Justin Fashanu still looms overhead, and instead of coming out, the fear instilled by such an event, prevents a player from doing so. And if indeed, there is also homophobia within a team dressing room, then the problem is much deeper than we realised.
Would like other peoples views on this. Should players come out or would it be in their best interests to keep it to themselves? And who is to blame for it? Abusive fans? Team-mates? Or is it the FA for not doing more sooner, to tackle the problem?
