In a special one-off podcast, Gary Andrews examines the issue of homosexuality within football and asks if enough is being done by the authorities and clubs to tackle homophobic abuse in the stands and on the pitch.
Justin Fashanu, who announced his sexuality in 1990, remains the only player in the English game to have come out as gay, and his life ended in tragedy when he committed suicide in 1997.
Gary speaks to Alan Duffy from the Justin Campaign, a group set up in his memory to lobby the authorities to take homophobia seriously and support any gay players who wish to come out. He also travels to Devon to meet the Exeter Lions, the county’s only gay team.
With international rugby and cricket players recently having come out, Gary speaks to Lizzy Ammon from Spin Magazine after wicketkeeper Steven Davies’ first game on English soil since he announced he was gay.
The Daily Mirror’s John Cross, one of the few sports journalists in this country to have tackled the authorities on homophobia, transgender blogger and Norwich City fan Juliet Jacques, and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell also contribute to this investigation into an often-neglected area of the beautiful game.
Click to download TFT Podcast Special 1: Homophobia and football (.mp3).
Tags: Exeter Lions, football and homophobia, Gareth Thomas, homophobia, John Cross, Juliet Jacques, Justin Campaign, Justin Fashanu, Lizzy Ammon, Peter Tatchell, Steven Davies
I followed the link over from the Guardian’s “Favorite Things.” It was a coincidence that you posted this right at a time when I was curious about gay players, so I listened to the podcast from iTunes, and it was interesting, and an incredible amount of work (disproportionate to absence of comments that I see with this post), and very informative to me.
I would certainly support gay players coming out (as I understood Malouda said he would) but I do not necessarily think they need to (as I understood may be the position of Gomez and certainly at least a couple of your interviewees).
I noticed a player recently in street clothes who appeared to me to perhaps be openly gay, so it made me curious.
[...] twofootedtackle Podcast returns for the second week running. After Gary Andrews’ barnstorming homophobia documentary it’s back to something resembling the old format as Gary joins Chris Nee at a pub in London [...]
when asked about the problem of homophobic laws and discrimination for LGBTQ people in qatar sepp blatter said “They should refrain from any sexual activities” to an audience which laughed as soon as the word gay and homosexual was said and again after blatter responded. which sums up the attitude of most football fans who are overwhelmingly straight and male, if not society in general. “stay in the closet”. smash patriarchy and heterocentricity.
Thanks for the good podcast. As a footballer (albeit not professional) who does not identify as gay, I think it is important this issue is put in the limelight, as the more exposure this issue gets, the more it will shine a light on behavior which is not appropriate. I attend professional games, sometimes with a friend who identifies as gay, and really have to cringe at some of the chanting which occurs. Near the end of the season complained about one individual who was particularly offensive, and received a response from the club’s CEO no less saying ” I would suggest you notify a security guard or stadium staff member as under law we must witness the unruly behavior before we can act.” Awaiting further developments.