‘Gay players could come out together’

ENGLAND’S Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has spoken to gay footballers and suggested a group of them could come out together, he said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.

Clarke said last year he “wouldn’t recommend” a footballer coming out because of the risk they would face abuse, but he believes several coming out at the same time could be a solution.

“I put the message out there that if a number of top-level pros want to come out, why don’t we synchronise it? So one person doesn’t have to come out on their own,” he told the

“The Premier League, Football League and FA could do it at the start of the season. At the start of the season everybody thinks it is their season, the crowds are happy, the sun is shining.”

Clarke revealed he has spoken to gay sportspeople, including footballers, to discuss the best way forward. “I’ve met 15 gay sports people in the last four weeks to ask their views, including footballers. It is very difficult to get to a representative set of gay top-level footballers because some of them are happy with their sexuality and just don’t want anyone to know.

“I don’t want to be part of a process that says: ‘You’ve got to come out.’ That’s not right. People are cautious. It’s a one-way street. Once you’re out of the closet, you’re out.”