by Trinity Brown (19/11/23)
Above: The LGBTQAI+ flying at Camp Nou. Photo: FC Barcelona.
Male footballers tend to come out as gay after they retire, compared to the openness of the women’s game, where it is never seen as a particularly big deal if the players identify as gay.
One can name many female footballers who are gay. In fact, it is a bit of a stereotype of the community, whereas most couldn’t name more than one gay men’s footballer, if any. So why is there such a difference? This article will try to analyse and give opinions on this discrepancy.
The fan base has a massive part in why some male players feel like they cannot come out. If one looks at the posts from Pride Month, they could see that many people who watch men’s football are incredibly homophobic.
“Arsenal remove this ugly flag be normal as last year.”
To comments like
“I support Arsenal since I was a child and I never felt shame of that, until now so sad.”
The harsh reality of this is it isn’t necessary to hunt for these comments. The definition of the noun “shame” in the Oxford dictionary is, “a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour.” Shame is an immensely powerful word. One could say that in the men’s game there are fans who have not changed with the times.
Part of the reason why I as an individual were not into football growing up is because of the culture of it being homophobic. I disliked football up until the women’s Euros in 2022. Seeing players who were gay and a fan base that was extremely accepting made me rethink my ideas about football.
By some of the players being openly gay, it creates a more accepting atmosphere where one can go to a game and not have to hide the fact they are gay for fear of harassment. Having talented players come out and be openly in a relationship with another player of the same sex creates a sense of feeling that homophobia is not welcome in the women’s game and will not be tolerated.
Football chants and trying to distract the players during the game are both a big part of the men’s game. This creates an atmosphere that implies that it is in fact embarrassing to be gay. Being gay is even seen as a weakness to some, in fact, it’s common that when a player falls over, they get heckled and called homophobic slurs in an attempt to humiliate them.
Young fans often see homophobic chants simply as “banter”. Whether they think it is all a big joke, or if they are using the word “banter” as an excuse to be homophobic, this can teach young, impressionable minds that it is actually acceptable to be homophobic.
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