Ugly truth about our beautiful game’s gay bigotry
Despite a more diverse society, footballers are being prevented from revealing their sexuality,
People feel they can behave at football in ways that are unacceptable elsewhere
It is not so much Stonewall as brick wall for former Wales rugby international Gareth Thomas as he tries to get his head around football’s approach to anti-gay prejudice in Gareth Thomas v Homophobia: Hate in the Beautiful Game.
The documentary, shown on BBC Two last night, was frustrating to make for Thomas, and it is a frustrating watch as well. It is widely held that football has taken big strides to make racism unacceptable in British grounds, but Thomas says that attempts to combat bigotry against gay players and gay fans are lagging far behind.
Thomas and other contributors identify a Catch-22 situation.
Amal Fashanu, niece of Justin, has herself made a BBC documentary about homophobia in football. She tells Thomas that “until a current big footballer is brave enough to come out” things will not change. On the other hand, the documentary asks, who would risk coming out in the sport’s current environment?
Thomas, of course, has relevant personal experience, having revealed his homosexuality while still an active rugby player. He played the last of his 100 matches for Wales in September 2007; it was in December 2009 that he gave a newspaper interview about his sexuality. It must have been tough.
Perhaps it would be even tougher for a player at the start, or peak, of his career.
And football, of course, is not rugby. People feel they can behave in ways at football, or online discussing football, that would not be considered acceptable in other environments. This we knew already, but Thomas’s film certainly is not going to turn its nose up at low-hanging fruit. Thus: Leeds United fans with moronic chants at Brighton fans and an online Crystal Palace supporters’ forum called Brighton Abuse.
Vile, yes. Infantile? Certainly. Typical or common? Not really answered.
Also unanswered are the phone calls that Thomas puts in to Greg Clarke, the FA chairman. Thomas wants to know what football is doing about homophobia, but he gets little change out of the FA. Bill Bush of the Premier League agrees to talk, but not on camera. The PFA is more accessible, but the interview given jointly by Gordon Taylor and Simone Pound, who has been head of equalities at the PFA since 2000, looks amateurish. Taylor waffles on about the contributions gay people made in the Second World War, Pound just bandies around management speak about “protocols” and “best practices”.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” says Thomas. “I am literally dumbfounded. If I had been doing a job controlling the diversity and welfare of players for 17 years then, as sure as hell, if I was asked a question, I would have my points prepared.”
Thomas and his film, no question, are on the side of the angels here and want things to get better for gay footballers. It is taken as an article of faith that there is a significant minority of players who want to reveal their sexuality but cannot. Very possibly. But not proven by this film.
One who will talk is Robbie Rogers, the US international, who is gay. He now plays for LA Galaxy after an unhappy spell at Leeds United and he says terrace abuse is not just banter.
“People think they are just affecting you during a game, but they don’t realise that they are affecting someone’s life.”
Football has a long way to go. Thomas has a lot more questions than answers, but good on him for asking them.