Your opinions needed

[CrazyToon]

HI Lads

I wonder if anyone could help me out with a University project I am involved in. I'm currently doing a sports degree at University and want some feedback and opinions.

I have to complete a dissertation on racism & prejudice in football, but because I am gay, my university lecturer has asked me to focus on homophobia & homosexuality in the sport. This has left me a bit stumped as the only information I have is all about Fashinu from years ago.

One thing that has sprung to my attention was the recent tabloid rumours regarding a UK pop star call Will Young being linked to a premiership footballer. This led to the tabloids all speculating as to the ID of the respective footballer. In discussing this at work and with a lot of friends, both straight and gay, one Newcastle United players name kept cropping up (I'm not going to name him of course, might get sued).

And a few things became apparent in all of my convesations and discussions.

1) A lot of footy fans I spoke to weren't that bothered about the orientation of a player, as long as it didn't affect their game.

2) Peoples opinions were that it was Managers, Chairmen & agents which stopped players being open about it in case it affected the monetary value of the player.

What I wanted to know & wondered was whether this was a general consensus of opinion? Are sports fans really bothered nowadays about who a sportsman/woman sleeps with? I know of two rugby players which came out, and no one batted an eyelid, but would that happen in football? Why are football fans automatically labelled as homophobic?

Any opinions guys?

[Mel B]

HI Lads

I wonder if anyone could help me out with a University project I am involved in. I'm currently doing a sports degree at University and want some feedback and opinions.

I have to complete a dissertation on racism & prejudice in football, but because I am gay, my university lecturer has asked me to focus on homophobia & homosexuality in the sport. This has left me a bit stumped as the only information I have is all about Fashinu from years ago.

One thing that has sprung to my attention was the recent tabloid rumours regarding a UK pop star call Will Young being linked to a premiership footballer. This led to the tabloids all speculating as to the ID of the respective footballer. In discussing this at work and with a lot of friends, both straight and gay, one Newcastle United players name kept cropping up (I'm not going to name him of course, might get sued).

And a few things became apparent in all of my convesations and discussions.

1) A lot of footy fans I spoke to weren't that bothered about the orientation of a player, as long as it didn't affect their game.

2) Peoples opinions were that it was Managers, Chairmen & agents which stopped players being open about it in case it affected the monetary value of the player.

What I wanted to know & wondered was whether this was a general consensus of opinion? Are sports fans really bothered nowadays about who a sportsman/woman sleeps with? I know of two rugby players which came out, and no one batted an eyelid, but would that happen in football? Why are football fans automatically labelled as homophobic?

Any opinions guys?

I did a racism in football essay at college about 7 years ago. Uria Rennie is the only black referee in the Premiership. You could do a coupla paragraphs on that sunshine.


I know the gay footballer at NUFC he's been linked to. And his first name begins with a J. And his last name begins with a J. Alledgedly. *phew* Someone on the liverpool board labled the toon squadron gang rapists, murderers. This being an American Board i dont think you'll get sued. Hope not anyway. I'll keep my opinions to my self sunshine.

[rokstedy]

It would strike me surprising if I found out a player was homosexual but I would still see him as a player that has great talent & skill or a do-nothing. I don't idolize players so I'm not interested in their private lives unless it was affecting their play.

[picaraza]

What I wanted to know & wondered was whether this was a general consensus of opinion? Are sports fans really bothered nowadays about who a sportsman/woman sleeps with? I know of two rugby players which came out, and no one batted an eyelid, but would that happen in football? Why are football fans automatically labelled as homophobic?

Any opinions guys?

There is a thread in Beautiful Game on this right now regarding football and homosexuality:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158147

There was a thread about a month or so ago that quickly got real ugly. I'd suggest that you search BS using a few keywords to get some unsolicted responses -- that'll give you an idea of the tenor of a lot of the posts regarding homosexuality.

I don't have an answer for you. I've lived in and around liberal San Francisco for the past 20 years and so my opinions are more in line with the average San Franciscan than the average football fan (whatever that is).

I am not sure that there is a difference between football fans and other sports fans. The division may be true in Britain... here in the United States bigots are pretty undiscriminating when it comes to their choice of sports.

There was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle recently (try sfgate.com) about gay athletes that focused entirely on American sports -- baseball, Amercan football, basketball, and diving --Greg Louganis (sp?). The article was written to coincide with a play currently running SF right now about a fictional gay athlete -- don't remeber the title.

Every five years or so the Chronicle has a article about Glenn Burke a gay baseball player who played briefly for Los Angeles and San Francisco in the 70s-early 80s. You might be able to find some interesting info there.

[picaraza]

Found it

This is the ugly thread I was referring to:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151734&highlight=homosexual

[Mel B]

Found it

This is the ugly thread I was referring to:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151734&highlight=homosexual



I'll have a read sunshine. I have been involved in a number of quality threads. :D :D :D


Hahahahahahaahahaahahaha. Thats fcuking quality.