Gay footballers

[Zippy]

What is the problem here? Got to thinking about it because of this comment from Gareth Southgate
On the other hand - it's really nobody's business is it? Does anybody really give a toss if a good player prefers men in the bedroom?

[Robinho]

I presume you've never been to a football match.

[Zippy]

I presume you've never been to a football match.

Yeah, I have actually. And I can imagine what the chants would be if a player had said he was gay (ststistically a few of the chanters would be gay too). But then the fams will insult you for anything (hopefully we are beyond chucking bananas on the pitch for black players. Or suggesting the ref has questionable morals). I suppose I'm asking why being gay is anybody elses business (and why gay people should feel the need to reveal their sexual preferences). After all, straight footballers don't 'come out' do they?

[Doggy Styles]

I thought they were all gay?

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

Don't know about football players but I'm convinced a lot of rugger players are woofters. All that dancing round with your cacks on your head etc.

[Doggy Styles]

Rugger players are a law unto themselves Malc. Lots of pushing against each others' bottoms and drinking urine after the game tells me I was right to retire from the sport when I left school. In my experience their sexual preferences extend to anything - animal, vegetable or mineral.

I still like to watch though.

[Mich the Tester]

Rugger players are a law unto themselves Malc. Lots of pushing against each others' bottoms and drinking urine after the game tells me I was right to retire from the sport when I left school. In my experience their sexual preferences extend to anything - animal, vegetable or mineral.

I still like to watch though.

If it was all like that I'd have stopped after school too, but seriously there's no reason to assume a higher or lower incidence of homo- or bisexuality in rugby, football or any other sport than you find in the whole population, and I know of openly gay (open to their team mates) rugby players (including pros, although not famous players), indeed there are gay rugby clubs in many large cities and I haven't heard of people having problems about playing against them. However I think Gareth Southgate's right; most players will probably accept a gay team mate more easily than some fans. Sportspeople see each other in the changing rooms, are accustomed to physical contact in training or performing and don't often have hang-ups about it. Also, what's actually important to most serious players about a team mate is what he delivers on the pitch. So your team mate's gay? So what?

Interestingly though, it seems many sportswomen don't come across the issue so much; there are plenty of openly lesbian rugby, football, volleyball and netball players and their team-mates don't really seem to be bothered. Maybe some men need to learn from them.

[LatteLiberal]

If football players were to come out of the closet and then received abuse on the pitch, it would soon be seen as the equivalent of people throwing bananas or making monkey chants. A human has the right to be safe from abusive behaviour and I am sick of the excuse that it's a football stadium the hurled chants are just part of the game.

[Pondlife]

Gareth Thomas didn't get any abuse from the terraces AFAIK. Maybe this is more about football fans than gay sportsmen.

According to an article in Sports Illustrated on 3 May 2010, Thomas was notable as the world's only then-current professional male athlete in a team sport who was openly gay,[4] although cricketer Steven Davies, volleyball player Michael Dos Santos and footballers Anton Hysén and David Testo have since come out.a In December 2009 Thomas was voted top of the Pink List in 2010 of the 101 most influential gay people in the UK[5] and he received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award in October 2010. Thomas is a supporter of Childline and is co-founder of Distinct Management and PR with his manager Emanuele Palladino.

[Mich the Tester]

If football players were to come out of the closet and then received abuse on the pitch, it would soon be seen as the equivalent of people throwing bananas or making monkey chants. A human has the right to be safe from abusive behaviour and I am sick of the excuse that it's a football stadium the hurled chants are just part of the game.

Somehow people seem to take liberties at sports matches that they wouldn't necessarily take during the rest of the week. It's not only the insults from fans, but there seem to be a lot of pompous journalists who pretend to be experts and postulate on the errors of sportspeople, claim that players aren't up to the job and generally encourage a culture of judging players rather than just sitting down and enjoying the game. Look at the crap that journos and various internet armchair experts have thrown at England's rugby captain Chris Robshaw this week, for a couple of decisions on the pitch that could have led to victory and made him a hero but didn't quite work out. It sickens me; sure, everyone has a right to an opinion, but having played at a pretty high standard myself I think I know whose opinions I really care about, and the opinions of lard-assed journos or drunken fans who've never even turned up to a training session with Old Wobblebellians 4th team, never mind been on the pitch, under pressure in front of thousands of people, just don't interest me. I think the insults against black players are part of the same culture of people gobbing off and slagging down those who are clearly more succesful than themselves to try and hide their own weakness.