the best hope for gay footballers to come out in the future is for someone who is thicked skinned and doesn’t pay attention and care what other people think about them, because the fans will give them stick on the pitch and will class it as “banter” which it isn’t, then others will come out and eventually it will be “normal” which is pretty sad having to say that
I’ve heard the Sterling one muted before. No substance of course but I’ve seen it around.
sterling has about 8 kids
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And.
Sterling comes across as a guy who is pretty vocal and tackles discrimination matters head on, I think if he was gay then he would be vocal about it to help others as well
So does Yusaf Mack and he got outed because he was doing gay porn on the side lol
Maybe. Maybe not. I’m only saying I’ve heard pub talk on it.
Not fair to speculate really. Just saying having kids wouldn’t discount it for him.
IDK dude. I’ve thought about this a lot lately. Sexuality can be such a fluid and private thing that even someone as outspoken as Sterling might not feel totally comfortable with that extra level of scrutiny on him. And let’s not pretend that the tabloids that hammer him for daring to be a young Black man with disposable income wouldn’t also drum up sensational stories about his love life.
I’m also not sure that clubs owners would be comfortable with it compared to most others.
Jeez. I hadn’t even thought about that. It’s entirely possible a club wholly owned by a country that isn’t too keen on gay folks would want an openly gay player on the team.
Whoever this player is, I do really feel for him. It’s such a shame because the women’s game is such an excellent example of normalizing lesbian players, same sex relationships among teammates or even across teams. It’s just like, not a big deal.
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Yeah I heard this before as well, to be fair though and no offence to anyone who’s gay I think it’s to do with how he runs and waves his hands plus his mannerisms and not anything concrete. I have had over ten people who have watched a game with me by chance over the last 4/5 years make that comment when they’ve seen Sterling playing.
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Sexual orientation of a footballer should be exactly as we, the general public, declare it on an application form. Private, confidential and optional.
There seems to be a need to “out” players. It’s bullshit.
Keep private lives private.
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That’s all well and good and I agree but ever since George Best the private lives of footballers has been tabloid fodder. Some (well, Beckham) have built empires off it. No reason this would be any different.
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I kind of disagree.
I think it’s important to have role models for kids who might be struggling with their sexuality. I know that as someone who probably falls closer to bisexual than straight on the sexual spectrum if I had seen a male player talking about being bisexual or gay it would have made me feel more comfortable as a teenager trying to figure out who I was attracted to and what I felt comfortable with.
Sexuality is such a delicate thing for some people, you might not truly understand why you feel what you feel but you still feel it and having a role model who plays football and who is accepted might help.
EDIT: But yeah, outing people is a big no-no. The tabloids over there are so brutal.
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Outing people I’ll never agree with but I’d love it if a high profile footballer came out as gay. I think it’s desperately needed to kind of force an attitude / culture change in sports in general.
There’s a big emphasis on racism and rightly so but the issue with homophobia in sports is way too understated. It’s disgraceful that in 2020, players are still having to live in fear of being abused for their sexuality by not just players but potentially becoming outcasts in the locker room too.
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Being shunned in the locker room is a big reason I didn’t really think about my own sexuality until I was a little older. I loved being part of a team, loved the jokes, being part of something bigger than yourself (classic leftist propaganda) and working towards common goal. Being left out of that would be devastating. I’m sure it’s a big reason people are keeping quiet.
But I seem to remember Robbie Rodgers getting a lot of support from the Galaxy when he played for them. Maybe that’s just LA though?
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Just do it.
Get a nike contract if he does that.
Maybe this kind of action is what’s needed? Just to take the edge of it.
I’ve been part of a tough locker room mentality within a team. This mentality is a big contradiction when you think about it. When playing for the youth team at 16-17 i had a teammate who was openly gay. Most of us didn’t care about it at all. There were however a few of the “macho” guys in the team who made jokes behind his back etc.
A couple of years later he tried to commit suicide. The reason was not related to his sexuality at all, but one of the “macho” guys made comments like “he chose that lifestyle”. I’m still angry with myself for not speaking up then.
Gay or straight, who cares? Just like racism, having this discussion and having to defend race, sexuality, gender in 2020 is sad. Very sad indeed.
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It depends on the skill and character. If Henry or Bergkamp came out as gay I doubt it’d make much difference to his respect in the dressing room.
Opposition fans is always the reason given, but I doubt that’s a big deal in the PL in 2020. Clubs will be happy to ban their fans for homophobic abuse to be able to say they stand against discrimination. It will definitely be zero tolerance. I guess away in Russia or something is more likely a problem but then it’s already a problem for a lot of players.
If it was me I just wouldn’t want the attention. If you’re a nobody English left back for Watford going about your business, you’re now suddenly Britain’s famous gay footballer for the foreseeable future. It’ll be the media constantly reminding you you’re a gay footballer, trying to get you on talk shows and into the jungle.
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