Fans Views on Gay Footballers Research

I am carrying out an anonymous survey on fans' views towards gay football players and would appreciate 2 minutes of your time doing an online survey (see below). This is in response to the Premier League dropping a campaign on this issue and Max Clifford claiming that 'football is steeped in homophobia'. We want to assess how fans feel about this. After receiving over 2000 replies to phase 1 we are now moving into phase 2 of the research. Gordon Taylor, the chief of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), has replied to the interim results of the topfan online survey of fans' views on homophobia and gay players and we are happy to set the facts straight. Mr Taylor writes: "Never at any time have I withdrawn support for an anti homophobia campaign and in fact quite the opposite." As an organization, the PFA states: "We welcome the opportunity to lead the field in this area, as we have done with racism ... we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay. If a player approached us regarding this matter there are support mechanisms in place to ensure the player has the full support of the Association." Check http://www.topfan.co.uk for the full statement, latest results and make your contribution to Phase 2 of the project. Here are a couple of recent newspaper stories on the research: http://bit.ly/blCH5n (The Yorkshire Post) and http://bit.ly/doJTbY (The Sunday Herald).

Complete the 2 minute survey at: http://www.topfan.co.uk

 

Done. :naughty:

 

It's an interesting study.

Most fans seem to be happy with Elton's involvement in the club but may feel uncomfortable with a gay player on the team. Is it possibly a fear of players being "sized up" in the changing room and interfering with team spirit and hence performance, or is it purely and simply another form of discrimination?

 

Thanks for completing guys. The connection with Elton here is an interesting one as you mention Hornmeister.

 

Added a poll so we can get some instant feedback.

It's anonymous and multiple choice.

 

Doesnt bother me at the slighest. Whether players want to be homosexual or hetrosexual it is totally up to them.

I do agree however it needs an official campaign. It would probably need current/former players to 'come out' and help support the campaign.

Wasnt a player at Leicester gay? An Icelandic player if I remember correctly?

 

Why is this even an issue ?

 

Agreed. I'm sure there's gay potential players that are put off because of the "macho" image of the game and fears of how they would be treated. I am of the opinion that a person's sexuality or religion for that mater, should remain private should they wish it to be. I'm not so sure a campaign would be effective with support from a well recognised player coming out and giving it his backing.

Mr Beckham it's your turn to step up.:biggrin:

 

It shouldn't be, but some people are not as enlightened as others.

 

Not doing surveys or questionnaires like this would help....

 

The problem with being a high profile footballer and being gay is that once the opposition fans find out then you are going to suffer massively. Every single club that came to our place in the 70's and 80's sang about Elton being queer, and a footballer is going to get it 20 times worse.

A lot of football players get badly affected by personal abuse and it can destroy their game. I fully understand why they'd want to keep it "in the closet".

Anyway, survey done and this thread made into a sticky for a week.

 

i think its more than football...homosexuality its still a handle with care topic. it suffers from the hangover of being different.
People do use gay as a flippant insult in and outside of football but in truth many have no issue with it, but the lack on understanding to the impact of tht use is a problem, yes.

i only see this as putting pressure on players to come out only exaggerating the feeling of being different

 

I'm gay.

 

Doesn't seem to have affected Gareth Thomas in rugby has it. Think there has been one occasion where homophobic abuse has been said from crowd (think it was Wakefild) and the club got a massive fine.

A lot of footballers, not being the sharpest tools in the box, would not tolerate a gay player in their team at first, whilst I think the fans would be more receptive to it. It will be a few years yet but I am sure someone will come out soon, most likely due to a NOTW expose!

 

We know

 

I'm very pleased to see this being raised on here. I don't understand why there hasn't been a campaign like the Kick Racism Out of Football campaign because the change will have to be forced or it will take forever. Given this club's special connection with SEJ perhaps we should declare unilaterally a zero tolerance of homophobic abuse.

The articles and the results so far were very interesting reading. Good luck with the research.

 

As a man I find this kind of thing very hard to swallow.

Gay footballers are a pain in the butt.

 

:sign15::sign15::sign15:

 

?

So because our life president takes it up the arris , we should declare unilaterally a zero tolerance of homophobic abuse ? i take it this means at the minute , its OK ?!?

And as for your campaign idea , what shall it be called ? COME OUT NOW !! WE DONT MIND !! HONEST !!

Like i said , cant believe in 2010 , its even an issue

 

You see Spud, I think this is the equivalent of throwing bananas or making monkey noises. This is where the campaign should start. Grass roots. You aren't allowed to make racist remarks on here. If you substituted the above quips for something racist, you'd get a ban (I know, I've tried it), whereas you can make homophobic (or sexist) remarks and that's all part of the macho, laddish content.

If you think footballers should be able to live openly whatever their sexuality, then give up using 'gay' as a derogatory term, resist the temptation to suggest someone might be gay as an insult and operate a zero tolerance to any discriminatory comments.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........................


p.s rascist....

 

How can you say calling a black person a monkey is the same as calling a gay person....gay?
I can see what you're getting at, but really, really poor example. I know a lot of gays, and I'm sure that they would all find Spuds comments amusing, or at the very most would give a roll of the eyes or a far wittier comeback.

Mountain out of a molehill on this one I think.

 

So why do you think gay footbllers are still in the closet?

 

interesting debate so far. can i just remind those who are interested to complete the survey at http://www.topfan.co.uk

It will take you 2 minutes. Thanks.

 

I was told by a well known pro (he grew up with a friend of mine) that one of his International team mates had "had more **** ends than weekends" The player in question plays for the biggest club in the country.

What this says to me is that the players are aware of the team mates that are gay and dont really care. Although you could argue there are nicer ways to say somebody is gay, it was said with a smile and certainly not with any malice.

I personally dont care, but I reckon there would be a vocal minority that do.

 

No doubt the only people who are actually care about this are saggy breasted, unemployed activists with one hand on the Independent and the other on the Muesli.

I doubt that it is an issue in the changing room anymore than being black is still an issue - i.e. there are always going to be a handful of morons who discriminate, but they wouldn't say anything anyway because otherwise they would be sacked.

 

But that isn't what the articles say:

..."in March, the openly gay Crusaders RL player Gareth Thomas was subjected to severe homophobic abuse. Last week Castleford were fined £40,000, a hefty sum for a team in a league with a £1.65m per club salary cap.

Since revealing his homosexuality in December 2009, Thomas has been barracked by fans, though he believed the abuse at Castleford was so malicious it made him feel, as he put it, "unsafe".

And, if it isn't an issue, why has no gay footballer felt able to be open about it?

 

Well that is a bit disappointing. At a Rugby club too, where public schoolboys roam free.

I wonder how many gay footballers there actually are? What is the ratio of gay:straight nationally?

 

What has a gay footballer got to do with your quote ?

 

Am I the only openly gay poster on this site? That's out of all proportion with national averages. Why are WFC forums contributors so scared to admit that they are gay?

 

Doesnt bother me to be honest, each to their own.

I've never quite understood what people have against gay men! As far as I'm concerned, the more gay men the better, it simply means there are more single women if the men are going for men.

 

Its called tongue being firmly in cheek and is not derogatory but is written to make the point that threads like this are ridiculous in this day and age. Im not homophobic, racist or a bigot. Not because Im told not to be ( Therefore I dont need to put it to the test unlike you) but because its the way I am. The silly name calling that goes on these days is nothing compared to what used to happen when racism and homophobia were at their respective heights anyway.

And another reason why people arent allowed so called racist or homophobic remarks is cos of litigation. Not cos they think it will cause offence which is the reason anti everything laws were brought in.

You really are boring most of the time. Is that being bordist ?

 

You and me Moogus, we are the only posters that can be open and happy. Isnt that why we call ourselves gay ? Unlike Afanof, hes a closet.

 

:sign15::sign15::sign15:

 

The number of responses pretty much justifies the thread's existence. It's a valid opinion poll and let's face it the site exists to create discussion.

To missquote Ferris Bueller: I don't condone ordism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

Perceptive and then perhaps not:forehead: