Gareth Thomas states his support for gay footballers

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Gareth Thomas states his support for gay footballers Gareth Thomas, the previous captain of the Welsh rugby team has made a public statement about his support for gay footballers and his desires for the breakdown of prejudices that he has seen towards homosexual people in the sport.

He is regarded as the most high-profile sportsmen in the UK who is openly gay and he has recently made his remarks in a BBC documentary. He stated that many talented players are being turned off the sport because of its homophobic nature.

In the documentary he commented, “If the Football Association were to issue a statement saying that they would take a hard line on any homophobic behaviour in the game then more talented footballers would join in the sport.”

The documentary has recently aired on BBC3 and is presented by Amal Fashanu. Amal Fashanu’s uncle is Justin Fashanu, who was an openly gay footballer. After he came out he received a lot of abuse for being gay and ultimately committed suicide in the late 1990s. In the documentary Ms Fashanu confronts her father who was hostile to his brother after he revealed that he was gay.

The documentary features an interview with her father, John Fashanu, where he states, “I’m sick of the scandals that I hear day after day, I have a name to protect and my brother is tarnishing it. I wouldn’t even like to get changed in the same room as my brother, and I’m fairly sure the rest of the football world feels exactly the same way.”

Justin at the time commented about his brother’s remarks, “I thought he was a more tolerant man and I am disappointed that he feels this way.” In the documentary John says that he has certain regrets about his behaviour about his brother’s homosexuality and his reaction to it.

Croatia bans gay footballers

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Croatia bans gay footballers Vlatko Markovic, head of the Croatian football federation has said, unequivocally, that gay men will not be allowed to play football for his country.  In s statement that only further enflamed gay rights activists all over Europe, he said that only healthy men were allowed to play for Croatia.

Of course, gay organizations the world over are calling for his immediate ouster.  His outburst has gone so far as to endanger his country’s application for membership in the European Union.  One of the EU standards clearly states that applying countries implement anti-discrimination rights.

Since his pronouncement, Markovic has withdrawn the statement, saying that he was misquoted and misunderstood.  One gay rights organization has suggested that in order to prove his remorse Markovic have the team fly the rainbow flag at their next match.

Markovic’s actions have opened up a long avoided discourse on gay players in football, with gay organizations urging players to come out of the closet.  The standard in international football has long held that no one asks and no one tells.

Of course, gay rights advocates find this sort of tacit acceptance to be less than they would like to see, which is an all out exposure of gay men in this sport or any other sport, for that matter.

It is estimated that as many as 10 per cent of professional footballers are gay men.  However, the sport has such a macho personification, say authorities that it would be career suicide to openly admit to being gay.  It has been rumoured that some gay players in Italy and Germany even have arranged fake weddings in an effort to hide their sexual preference.