gay footballers

afternoon lads, read a very interesting article earlier on why footballers may not come out. and it was very interesting to see a few points, mainly was would they be targetted "e.g. like the john fashanu (Sorry if spelt wrong)" situation. he wasnt accpeted as a gay footballer. however times may have changed. but still the main topic has to be, fear of fans reactions. or how the sqaud would react in the changing rooms. so my question to you guys is " i know we;re the best fans in the world but how would you react on a saturday say "e.g. if chops came out" or maybe one of the opposition come out. would you applaud or shout abuse.

Honestly couldnt care as long as he gave 100 % for the shirt!

(i know its not football related) but stephan davies england one day opener/keeper is gay. its all been kept hush until after the world cup. but hes been dropped from the squad now.

it is very interesting, because i think its fair to say now in the uk, we have no more racism at football, apart from a small disgusting bunch. but the gay issue has never really been brought up. gareth "alfie" thomas the wales rugby guy, has waited until around the end of his career before coming out.

thats why i think what gareth thomas did was good for the sporting world ,hes taken flak from supporters but he still decided to come out while playing which he knew he,d get stick for and hes done it ,hasnt harmed him hes strong enough to be able to cope with it...unlike amny others which there must be........wouldnt bother me if a city player was...but i dont thinnk anyone will do it...it would have to be a major player in the game to come out and say it and not care...eg ronaldo,gerrard etc a big name

Don't see the problem. I mean, the Welsh rugby team usually have 15 playing for them

Wasn't it Justin Fashanu rather than John Fashanu who was gay? I could be wrong. I played football with a friend who was gay when we were younger and never had any issues. I think there's obviously still some problems but for me certain people draw attention to themselves. Like that gay footballer who set up a football team for gay people. Surely that doesn't do any favours when they're trying to make being gay acceptable. It's as if they're branching off and saying 'we're different and we want you all to know it'. Well ok, do you want to be different or treated the same?

It really isn't an issue for me personally. If someone is gay fair enough. If they're not, whatever. It shouldn't be a subject.

If anything, if one of our players came out, it would make me respect them even more. Its hard for anyone to come out, let alone someone who is in the public eye in a masculine sport.

But its a taboo subject in football. I don't think we'll see an influx of footballers coming out anytime soon.

John Fashanu is married. His brother Justin was gay.

Sorry to be pedantic.

zabier you are right sorry it was justin. i was only 7 when it happend, so i dont know anything about the whole story just some stuff about what i read. i think during a game players always become heated and things get said, so i think it would be a big issue during a game if someone tackled badly and then the opposition player could get angry and shout something like "you faggot" or other hurtful words. i think its fair to say, we need a big name player to announce hes gay. and in my opinion "cristano ronaldo is gay" (dont mean to offend anyone with that)

and secondly if a player in league one or two said "im a homosexual footballer" it would be news for about a week. however

if someone like messi, terry, ronaldo said "im a homosexual footballer" alot more players espcially with younger ones would be more openly about their sexuality

zabier you are right sorry it was justin. i was only 7 when it happend, so i dont know anything about the whole story just some stuff about what i read. i think during a game players always become heated and things get said, so i think it would be a big issue during a game if someone tackled badly and then the opposition player could get angry and shout something like "you faggot" or other hurtful words. i think its fair to say, we need a big name player to announce hes gay. and in my opinion "cristano ronaldo is gay" (dont mean to offend anyone with that)

and secondly if a player in league one or two said "im a homosexual footballer" it would be news for about a week. however

if someone like messi, terry, ronaldo said "im a homosexual footballer" alot more players espcially with younger ones would be more openly about their sexuality

Hahaha, I have a lot of respect for this topic now though. Outing a married John Fashanu! Haha. Good stuff.

One of the very few times I have been ashamed of the behaviour of some City fans was at Plainmoor in the 90s in the old Third Division when Justin Fashanu was playing for Torquay United he got fearful sickening homophobic stick throughout and I could see how he was getting more and more angry. He ended up getting sent off( I'm sure deliberately) for elbowing our centre half John Williams and fracturing his cheek bone.

Justin had recently come out in the press. He eventually ended up playing in the US and his life ended in 1998 when he hung himself.

Is it any wonder there have been no other gay footballers (that I know of) to have come out since?

Couldnt care less about people's sexuality-cannot stand anyone who flaunts it in public though. Also don't like the pc brigade who give more rights to the minorities. Everyone is equal.

Sexuality or race doesnt matter. But everyone loves a bit of (what would be classed as scandal)

TBH i think Whitts is very camp

Heard rumours about Matt Taylor from Bolton with Will Young in the past.