England women’s captain Casey Stoney recently made the brave
decision to come out, and is the most high profile player actively playing to
do so in this country. But why, up to this point, is there no other openly gay
professional in the English game?
Huddersfield Town Ladies central defender Laura Booth has
her say: ‘I think this is due to people's ignorance and the inability to accept
gay people in a stereotypical mans sport.’
Of the men’s game, not since the 1990s has there been an
openly gay footballer who continued playing in England.
In 1998, former Norwich and Wimbledon player Justin Fashanu
tragically took his own life eight years after coming out, at the age of 37.
By his own admission, he had not been prepared for the
negative backlash that followed the decision to disclose his sexual
orientation, and claimed his football career suffered ‘heavy damage’ as a
result.
This sequence of events has left a lasting mark on our
‘beautiful game’, like a wound that won’t heal, or a scar, seen as a constant
reminder of the rejection, faced by Fashanu, and moreover the potential for it
to happen again.
It’s that threat of rejection that is holding professionals
back.
In recent times, we’ve seen former Premier League star and
German international Thomas Hitzelsperger come out, this however came after he
had announced his retirement from playing.
American journalist Sam Smith thinks the many outweigh the
few but confidence in taking that leap into the unknown is a factor for any
sportsman: ‘There have been many gay men in pro sports, though none feeling
confident enough to announce it in our too exclusionary society.’
Leeds United’s former American midfielder Robbie Rodgers
came out in 2013, but again, after announcing he was stepping away from
football and returning to the states. He has since restarted his career,
signing for LA Galaxy at the beginning of the 2013/2014 season.
Anton Hysen of Utsiktens BK, is the only other homosexual
actively playing professional football. His employers ply their trade in the
third tier of Swedish football.
Lets not forget Liam Davis who plays for semi professional
outfit Gainsborough Trinity, six divisions below the Premier League.
But this is all further a-field, far from the upper echelons
of English football.
Huddersfield Town Ladies first team manager Glen Preston
believes the issue of homosexuality in football is indeed, societal:
‘I think homophobia is a problem in society in general, not
just football or any sport for that matter, so any sport that exists within
society will have a level of homophobic attitudes.’
Are these homophobic attitudes of the wider populous,
positive or negative, a contributing factor?
In the main the response to Casey Stoney’s decision to come
out, and that of her male counterparts, has been positive, acceptance from
their peers and the general public has been forthcoming, in particular the LGBT
community seeing these professionals as role models.
But for the athlete, is that more of a burden, a curse
rather than a gift, having to manage the added pressure of being the first
openly gay professional in the top tier of English football.
Footballers are regularly faced with a barrage of abuse from
the terraces. Racial abuse is well documented through the 70s and 80s, in some
countries its still a major issue, by contrast, the English game has come so
far in combating racism.
Glen Preston, continues: ‘Sport has the ability to influence
the masses and to break down barriers to acceptance but drugs, violence, racism
all exist out of sport, football is not the problem, but it can help form part
of the solution.’
However a not too dissimilarly dark cloud is hovering above
our football stadia, homophobia, and homophobic chanting.
The true extent of which has been brought to the public’s
attention in this weeks Dispatches programme on Channel 4.
The documentary secretly recorded opposition fans chanting
homophobic abuse at Brighton fans during matches last season.
Over a 3 game span, the Dispatches team catalogued 20
homophobic incidents.
Brighton is well known for its substantial LGBT community,
and is often referred to as ‘the gay capital of Britain.’
A report complied by the Brighton and Hove Supporters Club
and Gay Football Supporters Network was submitted to the FA last year.
Its findings showed that at 57% of matches during the
2012/13 season, fans had been subjected to some form of homophobic abuse.
If those words based on sexual orientation were replaced
with racially aggravated language, that would not be acceptable, so why should
this?
On these findings alone, it’s clear to see that players
could be targeted from the terraces over their sexuality and receive abuse.
This type of abuse is not confined to the stands, with a
growing presence of fans on various mediums like Twitter, Facebook and fan
forums - giving rise to Internet abuse.
Abuse of ex and current professional footballers on sites
like Twitter has been well documented in recent months, providing a platform
for racial hatred and homophobic slurs.
Forming another avenue of potential rejection and negativity
that any player considering coming out may have to face.
This gives weight to the potential for more negative
backlash now than ever before.
Such facilities require better policing in order to
eradicate such prejudice in society, sport and specifically football.
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