The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Two Scottish referees say they are gay
Two referees have come out as gay in a bid to change the culture of Scottish football. Craig Napier and Lloyd Wilson become the first openly gay participants in men’s Scottish football since Justin Fashanu, who played for Airdrie and Hearts in the 1990s.
Both match officials revealed they had been inspired by similar public announcements from Adelaide player Josh Cavallo and 17-year-old Blackpool forward Jake Daniels, who last month became the first active male professional footballer in the UK to come out since Fashanu in 1990.
Napier, who took charge of 10 top-flight games last season, said: “This isn’t a conversation about me, this is a conversation about trying to change the culture within Scottish football.
“It’s not something that you can change, it’s not something that is worth hiding.
“It’s lot of wasted energy worrying about whether you are going to lose friends over it, whether you are not going to get promoted within refereeing because of it, whether you are not going to get selected for the first team because of it.”
He added: “There are no footballers on the pitch that are open, but they are there and until we have these conversations and these role models on the pitch there will be that stigma and fear.
“Josh and Jake are changing that and hopefully in Scotland I can play a small part in hoping it can inspire whoever is out there to be more comfortable in who they are and have a conversation with family, friends, teammates, and come out publicly if they feel able to.”
Wilson, who referees in Scotland’s lower leagues, talked about his sexuality in a video on the Youtube channel of mental health charity Back Onside as he urged others not to repeat his “horrific journey” and live a lie.
He said: “I know people will watch this and say: ‘Why is this even news? Why are we even talking about this?’
“I’m talking about this because I know that there are people out there watching the game, working in clubs, playing the game, refereeing, who are continuing to live in a way that they don’t want to live.”
He added: “I think it’s really important to point out as well that both Josh and Jake have had significant support from the football community.
“And I am actually really confident that Scottish football as a community, Scottish fans, will absolutely support me doing this and would absolutely support anybody in Scottish football who feels they need to do this.
“I’m hoping in a year or two or whenever that might be that this is completely old news and that people can just be them because people are killing themselves because they can’t be them.”