Or is the sport far too intolerant for that to happen?
Who cares?
I don't think the sport has any feelings at all.
Will a Gay footballer come out while being a premier league player. I can't see it happening anytime soon there would be too much pressure from the terraces waiting for any perceived incident to harass the player over.
The red tops in England have a huge part to play in this too for me as look at how they already treat young black English players. Would they go easy on a player if he came out as gay or would they be out trying to catch them in a personal situation and thus putting them under even more pressure. I think they would.
There are still too many knuckle draggers on the terraces and in the media to make it comfortable for a player to come out as gay. It would be great if no one gave a fck and it was ok for players to come out, but that's sadly far from the case.
Having said that you would think more players would have come out as gay after they retired from playing but only a few have.
the media will do nothing but cheerlead
In fact any negative reaction won't be much to the gayness itself but the vomit inducing fawning and heralding of a new hero by the media (and social media heroes) instead of treating the player like a normal player.
Its a bit weird the over zealous clamour in some circles to nearly demand a gay player instead of just watching them to play ball.
It's the politicisation of absolutely everything by progressive zealots
Ruins everything so why not football too ?
The media won’t be a problem, the opposition fans or some opposition fans will.
if a journalist for a media outlet / publication said anything vaguely controversial regarding a players sexuality you’ll have advertisers leaving en masse... advertising pays the bills revenue would plummet.
Whatever happened to Ronnie and the UFC fighter fella?
👀
Was rumours he was seeing a guy a few years ago but sure he has a wife now...
Link for those who care about who he sleeps with...
What bigots see as "progressive zealotry" is often just a reaction to years of bigotry. It'll settle down eventually, and a sportsperson coming out as gay will be about as much of a story as, I dunno, appearing on pitch with a different hairstyle.
The WOKE clergy would hate if they had nobody to yell bigot at
If 5% of the premiership came out tomorrow as gay and the reaction was a shoulder shrug ,the next SJW movement would be about how trans footballers need to come out
Cristiano Ronaldo would make love to himself if he could, if that counts...
No, won't happen. The abuse at the stadiums would be bad, add in the social media harassment and it would be enough to drive anyone over the edge.
Back in the 1990s there was a Premier League soccer player by the name of Graeme Le Saux.
He was straight and married with kids.
However he endured over a decade of homophobic abuse from fellow professionals and fans.
The reason was because he collected antique furniture and read the Guardian newspaper.
Eventually he snapped after being taunted by crypto-rodent Robbie Fowler and elbowed him in the face.
If Le Saux had to endure all that just because he read a newspaper with more words than pictures, imagine what an openly gay player would have to go through.
The arse sterling..............sticks out
Although he only played for the smaller clubs and didn't admit it until his days on the field were nearly over most people had an idea Justin Fashanu was kicking with the left foot because he made no secret of the fact he was going to gay nightclubs.
Hassle from fans aside you would think it would be marketing genius to be the first
Please no more politics or social justice guff in sport. It's already been tarnished by this take a knee rubbish.
I suppose when you think about it if someone came out as gay they would be defined as the gay footballer especially by the media. Whenever the players name would be mentioned the word gay would also be included. Also he would he put on a pedestal as a role model for gay teenagers. Football is a competitive environment I could definitely see why no one wants to go first instead of keeping the head down and playing football. I definitely think media are part of reason why because most of public couldn’t care who is gay or who is straight. Then again there some ‘fans’ are pr*cks.
It’s probably easier after you retire to come out but very few have. It’s not just football though some other sports are the same.
Its' funny how a simple question has triggered a load of people with a certain mindset "Social justice guff", "take the knee rubbish", "WOKE Clergy", "SJW movement", "progressive zealots", "vomit inducing fawning and heralding of a new hero" .... all this is one page 😁
this point exactly........funny how the other half of the thread is people pointing out that an out male footballer (cause there are loads of out female players) would almost definitely get abuse from opposition fans. i seem to remember ashley cole apparently becoming the most famous closeted person in the uk after he left arsenal and that his marriage to cheryl was just a front
It's funny that as backward as the GAA is sometimes portrayed that Donal Og came out over a decade ago and no one really batted an eyelid and he's a permanent fixture now on The Sunday Game.
David Gough is a gay gaelic football referee and no one seems to care either. He's probably one of the more liked referees by supporters.
I can't see it happen in football (soccer) any time soon. There are just too many knuckle-draggers in the stands. Someone mentioned Graeme le Saux earlier from the 90s being abused even though he wasn't gay, I don't think things have moved on since then really which is really strange considering wider society has.
Is there any openly gay players in any of the top four divisions in England? if not then obviously gay players just wouldn't be able to live the stick from opposition fans.
To my knowledge there are openly gay players in the eighth and ninth divisions - in the case of the latter, a bisexual player.
I wonder as a bisexual player would you get half the abuse as a gay player ?? obviously booing and abuse from crowds sometimes effects even the top players so it is a sorry situation that even players from Division 2 (old division 4) can't come out. Football can be backward in some respects.
Donal Og is dreadful as a pundit , one can only presume he got the gig for the same reason ( the equally dreadful ) Louise Byrne on Prime Time did ?
a diversity quota needed to be met
Unlikely in this lifetime.
That reminds me of the abuse John O'Shea used to get. Rumours about him being gay started circulating and he got abused every week.
You have high standards, would you settle for a championship player. Whats your type
Edit Thomas HItzlsperger - but i think he was retired
Classy guy, after being in a relationship with a girl, he ditched her one month before he was due to marry her, after being together EIGHT years ! Imagine wasting 8 years of a girls life like that, actually proposing to her and then... “ ohhh I’m gay, see ya “ that’s beyond evil.
there has to be a few but I’d say more will come out in time.... society has to change a bit or football society.
It seems like there aren't any openly gay professional footballers anywhere in the world, that's pretty incredible when you think about it
I did hear about this one years ago and he was still playing professionally
As a fan who goes to games every week, I find it insulting to try to categories players, I regularly call players donkeys or worse, but why does anybody have to bring a players sexuality into any conversation in a game of football, who cares, when you are on the terraces, nobody cares if a player is LGBTQ or anything else, they only care if they are shité or not, if a player needs to come out so be it, but if you are wondering about why there isn't more player out, perhaps there isn't that many,
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w2.vanillicon.com/v2/20f4606d019ca0b240328ff30d91e82b.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/d28e3620c74866d86bbf7a755e5b5b4e.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wc.vanillicon.com/v2/c4fa995385f3b1d974361fe25841d77e.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wc.vanillicon.com/v2/c599644a213e5f18742e0afff85076a6.svg)
