Is the game ready for gays?

[Toronto Villa]

Is the game ready for gays? No.

They would get a barrage of stick at every ground and i'd be joining in, just look at Upson, there were only rumours going round about him and he got dogs abuse every time he came to Villa. You don't get all the straight players coming out saying 'yeah i'm straight, i love women' so if gays don't want to be different why would they come out and say 'yeah i'm gay, i love blokes'.

how very mature of you

[The Situation]

Atleast Blackcountry Villa is honest. In the heat of the moment anyone can shout anything. I've heard many racist slurs in the North Stand but I bet those culprits will claim they're not racist.

[Ger Regan]

Is the game ready for gays? No.

They would get a barrage of stick at every ground and i'd be joining in, just look at Upson, there were only rumours going round about him and he got dogs abuse every time he came to Villa. You don't get all the straight players coming out saying 'yeah i'm straight, i love women' so if gays don't want to be different why would they come out and say 'yeah i'm gay, i love blokes'.

how very mature of you

And completely unsurprising.

[Dave Cooper please]

They can claim what they like.

[andrew08]

Interesting debate. I don't think footy is ready and I'm not that sure of the racism issue either. Fans have long accepted black players but its hardly a multicultural game in the stands is it yet. I'm taking a neighbours lad to the game in a few weeks, he's black. I was looking around on Saturday and there isn't one person in sight who isn't white. If this 7 year old kid cops any flack I'll walk out and consider never coming back. I think decent people on here can 'want' a footy ground where homophobia and racism don't exist but the reality is that footy grounds aren't really representative of society. Some people would argue they are the last bastion of the white working class man. And like it or not they aren't as PC as some think they should be.

[saunders_heroes]

Is the game ready for gays? No.

They would get a barrage of stick at every ground and i'd be joining in, just look at Upson, there were only rumours going round about him and he got dogs abuse every time he came to Villa. You don't get all the straight players coming out saying 'yeah i'm straight, i love women' so if gays don't want to be different why would they come out and say 'yeah i'm gay, i love blokes'.

That's the same kind of pathetic excuse we heard back in the 70s and 80s in regard to racist abuse aimed at black players. It seems the knuckleheads haven't gone away, they're just concentrating on being homophobic these days.

[Quiet Lion]

Blackcountry Villa would join in, will wonders ever cease....he seems like such an enlightened chap

On a a slight tangent I actually don't think there are that many gays in football. You simply cant extrapolate x% of gays in the overall population = x% in professional football.

I live in Brighton, and in a gay area. I also have a great many gay friends (I am pretty damn metro myself). Not one of them  really like football. There is a pub near me that when the Eurovision song contest is on, calls in the gay FA Cup Final. I am of course making generalisations here as you get plenty of gay guys that do like sports. There may well be a fair few pros who are gay, just not the numbers that some people claim.

Also I can honestly not think of a time when I have been down the Withdean Stadium  to watch Brighton where the opposing fans have not chanted about us being gay.

[Blackcountry Villa]

So i take it noone on here joined in with the 'Upson takes it up the arse' chants and you all sat there shaking your heads in disgust then? I highly doubt that somehow.

It doesn't mean i'm homophobic, i've got gay friends, it would just be abuse and songs towards a footballer. They would have thousands chanting at them every week, it doesn't mean everyone is homophobic.

[Quiet Lion]

So i take it noone on here joined in with the 'Upson takes it up the arse' chants and you all sat there shaking your heads in disgust then? I highly doubt that somehow.

It doesn't mean i'm homophobic, i've got gay friends, it would just be abuse and songs towards a footballer. They would have thousands chanting at them every week, it doesn't mean everyone is homophobic.

If people were singing racist songs would you join in ? I assume just because you sing them it doesn't make you a racist does it ?

[The Situation]

Many people who rarely lash out and say something offensive when they shouldn't of - doesn't mean they're racist/homophobic or whatever just because you said it once or twice in anger and frustration. I think there's many people who have said things when perhaps they shouldn't of. I'll hold my hands up to doing so.

[pauliewalnuts]

So i take it noone on here joined in with the 'Upson takes it up the arse' chants and you all sat there shaking your heads in disgust then? I highly doubt that somehow.

It doesn't mean i'm homophobic, i've got gay friends, it would just be abuse and songs towards a footballer. They would have thousands chanting at them every week, it doesn't mean everyone is homophobic.

You could take that halfwitted, asinine argument and replace "gay" with "black" and "homophobic" with "racist", and how acceptable would that be?

[Dave]

It doesn't mean i'm homophobic, i've got gay friends, it would just be abuse and songs towards a ootballer. They would have thousands chanting at them every week, it doesn't mean everyone is homophobic.

Make sure you pack your bananas when Arsenal come to town in ten days then. After all, it would just be abuse towards a footballer.

[pauliewalnuts]

Many people who rarely lash out and say something offensive when they shouldn't of - doesn't mean they're racist/homophobic or whatever just because you said it once or twice in anger and frustration. I think there's many people who have said things when perhaps they shouldn't of. I'll hold my hands up to doing so.

I can honestly say I've never racially or homophobically abused anyone, no matter how angry or frustrated I was.

Singing homophobic nonsense at Matthew Upson season in, season out is hardly the sign of thousands of people making one-off, acceptable errors of judgement.

[hawkeye]

there are gay footballers, the press know who they are and so do lots of other people in the game, but gay and footballer is extremely rare, i have only met one gay footballer and i have played with and against several hundreds

[hawkeye]

by the way i found the abuse that Upson got at VP disgusting and embaressing