Outsports Discussion Board > Football fans: no problem with gays; no place for homophobia in football

Full Version: Football fans: no problem with gays; no place for homophobia in football

Outsports Discussion Board > Outsports > Soccer

RfrancsR

Jul 26 2010, 09:00 PM

QUOTE

A new generation of British soccer fans would be tolerant about professional footballers admitting they were homosexual, according to an online survey conducted by Staffordshire University in England.
The survey of 2,000 supporters (www.topfan.co.uk) found that only seven percent believed that soccer had no place for homosexuals.
It was conducted by culture, media and sport professor Ellis Cashmore and senior sociology lecturer Jamie Cleland.
"The big surprise was that we got what I suppose you'd call a counter-intuitive response and that was that 93 percent said they felt there was no place for homophobia in football and it should be stomped out and they felt that it brought shame on football," Cashmore told Reuters in a telephone interview.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/9191531

sportinlife

Jul 27 2010, 08:54 AM

It's good that they mention Gareth Thomas in the article. Unfortunately they don't emphasize enough how much courage it takes to put up with ignorant fans, as Thomas himself has discovered.

But it highlights another reason pros in other sports have not come out. Besides the internalized homophobia and the expectation of financial losses on the part of the player, there is the prospect that teams may be held financially responsible for the behavior of their fans while on the teams property.

Teams that wanted to avoid that kind of fine - and it would have to be a lot larger than £40,000 (about $61,860 currently) to make an impression on any USA pro team - might avoid "hiring" a gay player. But the simpler tact would simply be to allow the atmosphere of homophobia to depress any player from coming out and avoiding the entire public embarassment of having to annoy homophobic fans.

I know from the way I have observed racism practiced in this country that it is much easier to passively benefit from it than to actively oppose it unnecessarily.

Pro teams in this country could make very clear anti-discrimination policies without any gay members on pro teams being an active player, and send a message that it is ok - official support of gay marriage for instance.

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