Britain's Gay Footballers, Monday, 9pm, BBC Three Options

[Richie Freebird]

If Messi was gay, I'm sure we'd all want to fuck him up the arse. I know I would.

Exactly my point. I can’t see people simply turning on the world’s greatest footballer if he were to announce that he was a homosexual. He has an un touchable level of respect.

He would have to be gay first though.

Obviously. It was a hypothetical.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Exactly my point. I can’t see people simply turning on the world’s greatest footballer if he were to announce that he was a homosexual. He has an un touchable level of respect.

Shame it would probably only be Dean Whitehead or someone who came out, I suppose.

The Lord has all the best players and big names though. Ronaldo, Villa, Phil Neville, Messi, Xavi, Kaka, Beckham are on the Oh Brother Tour. Cant see it happening.

[His_Airness]

Any basketball fans able to inform us on the reaction to John Amaechi when he came out?

Mainly positive within the NBA, except Tim Hardaway who had this to say at the time:


One widely-publicized response to Amaechi's announcement came from former NBA player Tim Hardaway, who stated that he would ask for a gay player to be removed from his team: "First of all I wouldn't want him on my team. Second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right and I don't think he should be in the locker room when we're in the locker room. Something has to give. If you have 12 other ball players in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."


Charles Barkley and Shaq both backed him though, which helped him tremendously but I think the response over in the states was a lot better than he thought it would be.

[Arch Stanton]

Look at Gareth Thomas, he's now universally known as the rugby player who is openly gay, rather than simply a rugby player.

Is he? Most people I know are more concerned with the fact he's former Wales Captain, capped 100 times and had a stroke on Scrum V. Alfie's got a talismanic quality.

I'm afraid so Butch. To the majority of the general public he's the 'the rugby hunk who came out as gay'.

[Devon Malcolm]

If Messi was gay, I'm sure we'd all want to fuck him up the arse. I know I would.

Exactly my point. I can’t see people simply turning on the world’s greatest footballer if he were to announce that he was a homosexual. He has an un touchable level of respect.

The reaction in Argentina would be interesting. They have the best gay rights record in South America - but there is also a very heavy Catholic presence in the country and we know their general thoughts on those types.

[Richie Freebird]

It would be the best possible start though, wouldn’t it? In the music scene there have been homosexuals with such levels of awesomeness that even the most bigoted homophobes can’t deny the talent purely based on sexuality.

[Magnum Milano]

Look at Gareth Thomas, he's now universally known as the rugby player who is openly gay, rather than simply a rugby player.

Is he? Most people I know are more concerned with the fact he's former Wales Captain, capped 100 times and had a stroke on Scrum V. Alfie's got a talismanic quality.

I think it depends on whether you are a Rugby/Sports fan. I can't imagine any one who has been following Rugby Union for ten years plus or the duration of his career, that would refer to him as 'the gay' Rugby player. To me he'll always be the Wales captain, Lions captain, dual code player and I'll always picture him scoring a try and then doing the Ayatollah. Guess it just boils down to how aware you were of him prior him coming out, as to how you think of/remember him.

[jimufctna24]

Any basketball fans able to inform us on the reaction to John Amaechi when he came out?

Some people in the game isolated him because of it.

Tim Hardaway made some very homophobic comments saying he did not want him on his team due to him being gay. I do not think the fans really cared though, the only ones that seemed to were the god loving nutcase players.

[Thunderplex]

I think like with everything it will eventually become the norm. My Gran had the first black family in wythenshawe move next door to her in the late 60's. It wast taht unusualt that it was featured in the local paper. Very few blink an eye now.

Yes they will be abused by the knuckle-dragging scrotes who cant accept that someone different is doing better than they are, but if the gay sportspeople stand firm, and are supported by thier peers, it will get better.

On a tangent, was I the only one who was surprised Fatima Whitbread was hetro?

[WildSybianRider]

Amaechi got a (sort of) positive reception to coming out because he was an irrelevance. He'd been out the league for years and, even when he was there, he was a nothing player. The negative comments (this is < 5yrs ago, remember) tell you all you need to know about how a bona fide superstar, currently active in the game, would be treated if they came out. I reckon a basketball player would probably get it easier than someone in baseball or the NFL, though.


There's shitloads wrong with our country but when I think of America...... yeesh.

[His_Airness]

Amaechi got a (sort of) positive reception to coming out because he was an irrelevance. He'd been out the league for years and, even when he was there, he was a nothing player. The negative comments (this is < 5yrs ago, remember) tell you all you need to know about how a bona fide superstar, currently active in the game, would be treated if they came out. I reckon a basketball player would probably get it easier than someone in baseball or the NFL, though.


There's shitloads wrong with our country but when I think of America...... yeesh.

I think they probably would get it easier but there's always been homophobia around the NBA, I remember Isiah Thomas spreading rumours that the reason Magic Johnson contracted HIV was because he was a homosexual, despite not being the case at all.

[bobbins]

Shame it's produced in the BBC3 format of righteous documentaries for idiots presented by a 14 year old. Wonder if they'll mention Glenn Hysen's lad, maybe the only openly gay pro footballer in the world.

[Dr.PeterVenkman]

Saw the presenter of this on BBC Breakfast this morning, it looked shite

Obviously you'd hope that if a player came out then they wouldn't get it too hard (ooh er) but sadly it'd turn into a natural reflex for a lot of fans to shout something at whichever player it was

The thing that does my head in is when someone says "well one in ten blokes are gay" as if that means every team must have at least one gay player

[gary v1]

I remember reading an article somewhere that said it was more likely to be around 1 in 25. I think it may have been in relation to the US politician who's name was coined by a radio presenter as the name for a sort of fecal/lube by-product.

However, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that a large number of teams would have at least 1 gay football. It is sad though that being gay is probably a much more unforgivable crime to most football fans than say, smashing your girlfriend in the face.

[Dr.PeterVenkman]

I remember reading an article somewhere that said it was more likely to be around 1 in 25. I think it may have been in relation to the US politician who's name was coined by a radio presenter as the name for a sort of fecal/lube by-product.

However, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that a large number of teams would have at least 1 gay football. It is sad though that being gay is probably a much more unforgivable crime to most football fans than say, smashing your girlfriend in the face.

I'm not saying they definitely don't have gay players in the team but it's just when they make the argument that every team HAS to have a gay player, also I hope your last line wasn't about Super Andy Carroll, they dropped the charges!