18% of sports fans believe gay players should "keep it to themselves".57% of sports fans believe gay players should come out to help others do the same.7% of sports fans would stop watching their team if they signed a gay player.More sports fans (12%) would feel uncomfortable with a rival player joining their club than a gay player (8%).The survey of fans of 11 different sports also found: On Wednesday, gay rugby league player Keegan Hirst, 28, guest edits a special Afternoon Edition programme on homophobia in sport on BBC Radio 5 live from 13:00 BST. England captain Casey Stoney reveals her sexuality for first timeĥ live polled more than 4,000 people into attitudes about homophobia in sport. When will a Premier League footballer come out?.Batley Bulldogs fan banned for homophobic Keegan Hirst tweets.It said it takes "strong action" against anyone found guilty of "homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse". The PFA will continue our work tackling homophobia until someone does come out and thereafter."Īn FA spokesman said it "welcomed the statistics" as a "sense check" on homophobia. "Coming out is a personal journey that is up to each and every individual. "I have worked in the game for over 15 years and I have certainly seen a shift in the culture as well as greater understanding and acceptance of LGBT people," she said. Simone Pound, head of equality and diversity at the Professional Footballers' Association, told BBC Sport the PFA and the FA were not "blaming any one particular group" for a lack of visibly out gay players. "It's bonkers in our society that people like this can dictate whether someone can come out or not."įormer footballer Chris Sutton says homophobic fans are "moronic" Greg Clarke should be taking these people on. By not taking it on, the 8% are the winners in all of this. "This 8% shouldn't be allowed in football grounds. Players I played with wouldn't bat an eyelid. Working at a football club is just like anywhere else. Sutton, who played for Norwich, Blackburn, Chelsea and Celtic, said: "Coming out wouldn't be a problem in the workplace. In an online survey of more than 4,000 people - 2,896 of whom were sports fans - commissioned by Afternoon Edition and carried out by ComRes, 71% of football fans said clubs should do more to educate fans about homophobia.Īnd 47% of all sports fans - 50% of football supporters - say they have heard homophobic abuse at matches.įormer Premier League striker Chris Sutton told Afternoon Edition that Clarke had "taken the easy way out" by being "dictated to by 8% of cavemen". We need to redouble our efforts to provide that safe space."Ĭlarke added that he hoped to achieve that in a "year or two". "But we can't promise to provide them at the moment with the required protection. "If they want to take that risk I would respect them and support them," said Clarke. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Wednesday, Clarke said he stood by his "personal view" that "vile abuse" from a "small minority on the terraces" must be solved before any gay footballers "take that risk" to come out. Last week, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke told MPs he was "cautious" of encouraging a player to come out because they may suffer "significant abuse" from fans. Now he’d be hailed a hero.”Īddressing the £75,000 payment, John Fashanu said that his brother took the money he offered, but still came out to the press a few days later.It would be easy to get ridiculed for it - but no-one did and it means a lot to me Rugby league player Keegan Hirst on coming out Had he come out now, it would be a different ball game. In his first press interview talking in-depth about his brother’s passing in 1998, former Wimbledon FC striker John Fashanu said: “I gave him the money because I didn’t want the embarrassment for me or my family. He left a note apologising to his family and saying that the allegations against him were not true. He was also the first professional British football player to come out as gay in 1990.Īfter being accused of sexual assault in March 1998, Fashanu hung himself in a garage in Shoreditch that following May. Justin Fashanu was the first black player to be transferred for a £1 million fee, moving from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981. It’s nobody’s business what someone’s sexuality is and that’s a leap a society has to make, as a sport or somebody’s sexuality really isn’t an issue.” John Carey, the film’s second director, told ELL: “Getting people to come out… This is a choice made by the free press… I don’t understand why it’s news, let alone front page news. The film documents the media frenzy that surrounded the sexuality of the late football star and echoes some of the recent tabloid speculation on the sexuality of Premier League players.
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