Remember that stuff about gay players?

[dave.woodhall]

An update.

I am carrying out an anonymous survey on fans' views towards gay football players. This is in response to the Premier League dropping a campaign on this issue and Max Clifford claiming that 'football is steeped in homophobia'. We want to assess how fans feel about this.

Gordon Taylor, the chief of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), has replied to the interim results of the topfan online survey of fans’ views on homophobia and gay players and we are happy to set the facts straight. Mr Taylor writes:  “Never at any time have I withdrawn support for an anti homophobia campaign and in fact quite the opposite.” As an organization, the PFA states: “We welcome the opportunity to lead the field in this area, as we have done with racism ... we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay. If a player approached us regarding this matter there are support mechanisms in place to ensure the player has the full support of the Association.”

Check www.topfan.co.uk for the full statement, latest results and make your contribution to Phase 2 of the project. Here are a couple of recent newspaper stories on the research:  http://bit.ly/blCH5n (The Yorkshire Post) and http://bit.ly/doJTbY (The Sunday Herald)

Jamie Clelland.

[villaross]

we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay.

That is the problem, no one dare put themselves forward. If you go back to the 1980s and the start of the backlash against racism players like John Barnes and Viv Anderson had to put up with horrendous abuse but they continued to stand for what they believed in. Thankfully racism is not an issue as much in football today and those players deserve credit for that. If the anti-homophobia campaign is to work then a new generation of players need to step forward.

[bob]

we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay.

That is the problem, no one dare put themselves forward. If you go back to the 1980s and the start of the backlash against racism players like John Barnes and Viv Anderson had to put up with horrendous abuse but they continued to stand for what they believed in. Thankfully racism is not an issue as much in football today and those players deserve credit for that. If the anti-homophobia campaign is to work then a new generation of players need to step forward.

It's not quite the same though, is it?

[Dave Cooper please]

we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay.

That is the problem, no one dare put themselves forward. If you go back to the 1980s and the start of the backlash against racism players like John Barnes and Viv Anderson had to put up with horrendous abuse but they continued to stand for what they believed in. Thankfully racism is not an issue as much in football today and those players deserve credit for that. If the anti-homophobia campaign is to work then a new generation of players need to step forward.

The thing is, it was impossible for players like John Barnes etc. to deny they were black! It was pretty obvious. Therefore they had to either confront it or quit the game altogether. Luckily they chose to former.

It's rather easier to hide the fact that you are gay, common sense tells us that there are gay Premier League footballers, and I'm just as sure that their team mates know this and are happy to keep it a secret.

[Hookeysmith]

Can i ask why it matters whether we know what someones sexual preference is - why does it have to be an issue, surely the more we open it up the more certain sections will be more intolerant

How does it have an effect on a players ability?

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Can i ask why it matters whether we know what someones sexual preference is - why does it have to be an issue, surely the more we open it up the more certain sections will be more intolerant

How does it have an effect on a players ability?

It doesn't matter, but a player (or anyone for that matter) shouldn't have to feel they can't be open about being gay, which, unfortunately, is how it is.

Any player who comes out will have to endure endless, moronic chanting aimed at them i.e. Matthew Upson whenever he comes to Villa Park.

It's not an issue at all. However, as some people did (do) not like those not of the same skin colour because they think it's wrong, this is also the case with homosexuals. Some people think it's wrong. Some people are stupid.

However, it's very rare for a racist incident to be found at football nowadays, so it'd be nice to think the same could happen for homosexuals in football (or in any walk of life for that mtter).

[Small Rodent]

Can i ask why it matters whether we know what someones sexual preference is - why does it have to be an issue, surely the more we open it up the more certain sections will be more intolerant

How does it have an effect on a players ability?

It matters to the extent that people use being gay as a reference for abuse of players. Whether they mean it or not. I am sure there are still thousands of racist football fans, but the opening of the issue (as DC said above; something you couldn't really hide from) has forced them to keep their mouths shut. Or hopefully for many, re-evaluate what they were really doing and change their attitudes.

[Olneythelonely]

Homophobia is rife in society as a whole, not just football. You only have to read forums, including this one, to see that gay jokes are completely tolerated. There is a lot of "gay banter" at football grounds, which used to be race related, but seeing as that is being stamped out they have to offend some how, don't they.

[wif]

Any player who comes out will have to endure endless, moronic chanting aimed at them i.e. Matthew Upson whenever he comes to Villa Park.

The current chanting every week is endless and moronic enough.  I don't think anyone would notice a difference.

[Risso]

we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay.

That is the problem, no one dare put themselves forward. If you go back to the 1980s and the start of the backlash against racism players like John Barnes and Viv Anderson had to put up with horrendous abuse but they continued to stand for what they believed in. Thankfully racism is not an issue as much in football today and those players deserve credit for that. If the anti-homophobia campaign is to work then a new generation of players need to step forward.

The thing is, it was impossible for players like John Barnes etc. to deny they were black! It was pretty obvious. Therefore they had to either confront it or quit the game altogether. Luckily they chose to former.

It's rather easier to hide the fact that you are gay, common sense tells us that there are gay Premier League footballers, and I'm just as sure that their team mates know this and are happy to keep it a secret.

Another problem with the comparison with black players is that black players started to emerge into teams in ever increasing numbers.  Taking a bit of a guess, I don't imagine that there are any more than half a dozen gay players in the whole of the Premier League, and I really wouldn't want to be the first one to admit to being gay.  Whatever well meaning campaigns like this aim to do, he'd be absolutely destroyed.  I think we're a good few years off having openly gay players I'm afraid.  I don't agree with Dave that players would let it be known to their team mates either, it just wouldn't be possible to keep it a secret for more than 5 minutes.

[Lucky Eddie]

Personally I think it's outrageous that not one single one of these hero worshiped multi millionaires has got the bollox to come out and be honest with their fans. Surely they owe it to the thousands of troubled and bullied teenagers and young men going through homophobic bullying every day of their lives to show such courage.

[Chris Smith]

I reckon a gay player would be as worried about the stick he'd get from other players as he would from the fans. Imagine having to deal with a twat like John Terry if you are openly gay. It's easy to tell them that they should stand up for themselves when you're not the one who will have to endure it every single day.

[Greg N'Ash]

Don't think its anyone's business but their own personally. private life should be private as long as its not illegal, but then i tend to find all these player kiss 'n tell stories a yawn as well and they seem to sell truckloads of papers...

[UK Redsox]

Personally I think it's outrageous that not one single one of these hero worshiped multi millionaires has got the bollox to come out and be honest with their fans. Surely they owe it to the thousands of troubled and bullied teenagers and young men going through homophobic bullying every day of their lives to show such courage.

Its not just in football. Male sportstars who have "come out" (for want of a better term) tend to be at or near the end of their careers (eg John Amaechi, Billy Bean, Gareth Thomas et al).

Females in sport seem to be able to be open about their sexuality. However, this might be because the groundbreaking was done earlier  (eg by Billy-Jean & Martina) than is the case for male sportstars.

[villa `cross the mersey]

I may be somewhat naive here, but.....why is there such a desire for people to "come out"? Surely sexuality is a private thing anyhow. I daresay many posters on here are gay or bisexual however I do not see the point of them openly expressing that in the public domain. I agree that no one should be persecuted for their colour, religion or sexuality but human nature is such that there will always be those who have no tolerance for others different to themselves.

Bloody hell I have just read the post above and find myself agreeing with Greg :)