Weren't sure where to put this but thought it deserves it's own thread. This is huge. Hopefully more will feel comfortable in Football to come out. A-League footballer Josh Cavallo comes out publicly as gay: 'I'm tired of this double life'
you got to wonder how many footballers are living a double life. Roughly 10% of people are gay, except in football, where it’s about .001%. It’s a damn shame that people still feel the need to hide their sexuality in this day and age.
Still find it astonishing that in this day and age not one top level footballer has come out as gay. It's really sad.
A certain number 7 probably will once they've retired. Agreed though, it is a shame footballers based in this country feel unable to. Didn't a Leeds player retire after announcing, only to return to playing with LA Galaxy? Feel it cannot just be about fan reaction, must be aspects of dressing room culture and the media that is stunting this.
Was just posting this. Robbie Rogers is probably the most high profile, but he wasn't in this country at the time. It amazes me (especially with all the current anti-racism stands) that not one top level player has come out. Understandable given the amount of abuse they'd undoubtedly get, but still hugely surprising and sad.
This is the thing though, it cannot just be fan reaction imo. That would get stamped out pretty quickly imo. It has to run deeper. Liverpool were threatening action against fans chanting Chelsea rent boys without much aim, so any direct abuse at an individual who has announced themselves as gay would not be tolerated.
I've said it before but I still think they'd take stick from crowds, certainly initially. Not necessarily because fans are actually homophobic but just because fans will hope to get a negative reaction out of them. The hope would be that it dies down pretty quickly but if fans know they'll get under an opposing players skin, I don't think it's really in their nature to be kind and act as they may do away from football. It is sad that there'll be so many that won't feel comfortable coming out. Even in this instance here, with all respect to the A League - I don't think you're really going to take stick from your own fans over it. I don't think football fans really care about anything beyond your performances. I think any abuse or chants will come from away fans at your ground or when alternatively you play at stadiums other than your own. So whilst this is undoubtedly brave on this player's part, you get sod all away fans in Australia that are really going to give him much stick about it. I think the reaction would be somewhat different here though because the football culture and away fan numbers are much different. Ultimately, the worst of the abuse he'll get will probably come from online social media platforms.
Yes, unfortunately he didn't feel he could 'come out' whilst a professional, either when he was in England or the US. He retired, then started back playing again after a bit of a break. Article here on it, quite damning about how he would feel the dressing room would be. Robbie Rogers: why coming out as gay meant I had to leave football | Football | The Guardian What i would say is that if a top level player in the premier league came out now, i think there would be a lot of support, both from their teammates and also supporters. I'd imagine it would also be lucrative for them.
Good for him. I find the whole public desperation for gay footballers to reveal themselves a bit weird but if Josh feels it helps him and others then good luck to him.
There would undoubtedly be a lot of support if a top player came out as gay, but they would also suffer a hell of a lot of abuse We unfortunately live in a world where there are reports of racial abuse at football games every weekend and those same scumbags would hurl homophobia at the first opportunity Good on this lad for going for it. Hope the Australian fans give him respect
Unfortunately (much like racism) it will never get stamped out though. You'd always have a few idiots hurling homophobic abuse at him, even if it's just to get a reaction rather than being their actual stance. Also, as @Jason says, the main worry probably isn't matchdays anymore, it's every single day online. With the amount of anonymous cowards targeting top level players with vile racist abuse at the moment you can see why anyone's reluctant to come out as a sexual minority. They would get battered. Saying that I'm still surprised the number of openly gay top level players still sits at zero. They would - as you say - receive a lot of support from the football community, and I genuinely believe the majority of opposition fans would treat them with respect and admiration, certainly much more than 20+ years ago.
Football fans can't behave themselves for one minute for silences or equality gestures in this country never mind refraining from abusing a gay player for 90 minutes, unless draconian zero tolerance measures are actioned to try and change the culture, nothing will ever change over here unfortunately Sent from my 6025H_EEA using Tapatalk
I find the need/want for people to come out a but puzzling. The whole "coming out" seems a little dated to me in modern society where labels are frequently questioned or shunned. Why should people need to out their sexuality? If they feel they want to great but the pressure to on the homosexual community to do so seems unfair to me, as I find the need to try and name someone surreptitiously equally as strange.
I think people are focusing too much on the crowds. Sure there will be some abuse to try and get in a players head, but I think they are more worried about their teammates and how people inside the club would react. Sure as a society we are far more accepting in the UK nowadays, but not every British person is, and people in other countries potentially less so. This is anecdotal and based purely on my experience, but I find most homophobia comes from men, and considering football clubs are full of men, it is likely there is a lot of "lad culture" behind the scenes that players are wary of.
I mean nobody is pressuring anybody, merely commenting on the fact that we know a certain percentage of the population do identify as homosexual and so to have had zero Premier League or Football League based footballers let it be publicly known is strange. It isn't a comment on the individuals at all, it is a comment on whether the right circumstances and settings have been allowed to flourish in order to allow homosexual people in football to feel comfortable. We've had a Football League player announce their sexuality and then immediately retire and leave the country... it is a shame they felt the need to do this.
