No place in football for gays?
Juve’s managing director Luciano Moggi seems to think so:
“There are no gays in football, I don’t know if players are against having them in their team but I definitely am.In the teams where I worked there were never any. I never wanted to have a homosexual player and I still wouldn’t sign one.
I’m old school but I know the ambience of football and a gay wouldn’t be able to survive within it.
A homosexual cannot do the job of a footballer. The football world is not designed for them, it’s a special atmosphere, one in which you stand naked under the showers.”
Apart from his dislike (or dare I say, mistrust?) of our chin-guard wearing brethren, I think Moggi’s got it the other way around. It’s a bit like saying that bars are not designed for alcoholics because it’s a special atmosphere, one in which alcohol is displayed right in front of them.
As David James once wrote, football has it’s proportion (if not more or less) of the gay male population, so even if 1 in 20 footballers likes to get tickled, that’s one in every club (2 if you’ve got bigger squads, 4-5 if you add the coaching staff and the youth teams).
Like Moggi, you might not like it, but that’s the reality and getting your head out of your…the sand as quickly as possible is a smart idea, even for a ‘traditionalist’ like Moggi.
I tried to keep the puns to a minimum but when you starting thinking that ‘bigger squads’ sounds fishy, you know it’s an impossible task.
This article is ridiculous. I’m sorry, but one in 20 footballers are not gay! Though gays and pro-gay groups would like to say that, of the normal population, one in 10 are gay, that is simply not true. The actual figure is about one in 100. Walk around the streets of London and you might see one or two gays, if you’re lucky… or rather, if you’re unlucky! So to say that one in 20 footballers are gay is totally absurd. And to tell ‘traditionalists’ like Moggi to get his head out of the sand and face what you call reality is also absurd. Disliking such immoral people and their behaviour is only right and, dare i say it in this day and age, moral (if there is such a thing anymore). If you’re prepared to diss someone who actually has some correct/moral convictions then you’re seriously screwed up yourself!
“our chin-guard wearing brethren”
What are you trying to say about Petr Cech ?
actually this was a play on what Gerry said in one of his recent articles
I don’t think it matters what proportion of the population is gay. The fact is that “The World of Football” is extremely homophobic. Any gay footballers are going to keep it to themselves. Remember Justin Fashanu? I bet he wished he’d kept his homosexuality to himself. Will Young went on record as having a lover who was a famous footballer. He refused to name him knowing what it would do to his career.
And Joe Bloggs, if that is your real name, I can only point you in the direction of Stewart Lee. He points out that morality is not set in stone. That, in some societies, love between two men is the highest and most moral form of love (I’m paraphrasing). Just because you don’t like cocks, doesn’t mean the rest of the men aren’t allowed to.
joe bloggs, how the hell can you say you might see one or two gays on the streets of london, do you have gay-dar, are you more atune to gayness than you’d like to share with us?
you obviously dont go out weeknds and, how many times have you clocked the guy next to you at the piss-stone, does that make you gay???
gay people are more likely to have better jobs than straight people, have more mony etc, etc. i used to screw a surgeon and a barrister for christ sake.
there are more important issues at large today than what gays can do and cant do, football is a skill and anyone can fucking learn one. you need to open your yes and shut your face just like this neolithic ass hole.
there is more feeling, touching, and kissing in one game of football than in any other televised event and then they all go and take a bath together!! your perception is flawed, should have gone to spec savrs mate.
Joe Bloggs I find your statement about only spotting 1 or 2 gays on the streets of London laughable. For a start, how can you tell? Do you realise there are many MANY gay men who do not dress in tight white t-shirts whilst sporting a dash of fake tan? I use that description because I assume thats how you gauge peoples gayness, from looks alone. Trust me, I know guys that are gay who you would never ’spot’ in a million years. What about the truck driver who took up that job because its easier to be out on the road on his own instead being around a bunch of homophobes in some office or factory somewhere?
What about the hoody wearing black guy on some council estate somewhere who agonizes over his feelings for other men but must continue the facade in order to survive in his environment?
Just because someone doesn’t ‘LOOK’ gay doesn’t mean they aren’t.
It’s ridiculous, this notion that the only gays out there are the ones who conform to gay stereotypes, the ones we can spot on the street or in the office. For every gay man who dresses a bit camp and goes down Old Compton St or Canal St there are at least 3 or 4 others who don’t and choose to be very private about it, and is it any wonder with idiots like Joe Bloggs walking around?
As for gays in football, it’s a safe bet they exist and it would be good for younger gay lads if some of their sporting heroes were comfortable enough to be open about their lives, unfortunately I don’t see that happening any time soon, just read some of the comments about gays on any football blog to understand why.