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Am I the only one shocked and angered by the FA's decision to effectively silence a referee who was prepared to come out. I believe this was probably done to protect him but they missed a fantastic opportunity with the right support and a zero tolerance of abuse by both fans and player to make real progress and help anyone else in football come out whether it be fan, player, referee or coach. Im not gay myself but have gay friends one of whom is a football fan and still at 46 is not particularly open bout being so due to worries about stick from other fans

popside_yidlad wrote:Am I the only one shocked and angered by the FA's decision to effectively silence a referee who was prepared to come out. I believe this was probably done to protect him but they missed a fantastic opportunity with the right support and a zero tolerance of abuse by both fans and player to make real progress and help anyone else in football come out whether it be fan, player, referee or coach. Im not gay myself but have gay friends one of whom is a football fan and still at 46 is not particularly open bout being so due to worries about stick from other fans

I didn't realise Aussie was 46

Southampton Gull wrote:Trojan always struck me as the feminine type.

Why does any thread on here about gay footballers quickly descend into crappy jokes and assertions that "I'm not gay"? It doesn't matter. That's the whole point.

What happened to Fashanu was tragic - probably came out way before the game and society was ready to deal with it, and set back gay rights in football about 20 years. There actually are one or two openly gay footballers; Anton Hysen comes to mind (his old man is ex-Liverpool defender Glenn Hysen).

happytorq wrote:Why does any thread on here about gay footballers quickly descend into crappy jokes and assertions that "I'm not gay"? It doesn't matter. That's the whole point.
What happened to Fashanu was tragic - probably came out way before the game and society was ready to deal with it, and set back gay rights in football about 20 years. There actually are one or two openly gay footballers; Anton Hysen comes to mind (his old man is ex-Liverpool defender Glenn Hysen).

You answered your own question...............

popside yidlad

Am I the only one shocked and angered by the FA's decision to effectively silence a referee who was prepared to come out.

I'm not particularly shocked or angered but I am relieved. Why doesn't that Referee or any other Referee keep his private life private. I don't want to know what he gets up to in the toilets on Hampstead Heath or whether he has fantasies about George Michael.

If you get up to stuff with other men, whether in your bedroom or anywhere else, I certainly wouldn't class that as anything to brag about. Referee's sex lives (whatever their persuasion) don't need dragging out for public display. The last time I went to Exeter shopping there were homosexuals parading through the streets. Quite why they want to make a song and dance about their activities is beyond me. There's a vegetarian ref out there somewhere, probably a few with a fetish for big butch german women, & maybe others partialled to dressing up in rubber.

I don't think hearing about any of that would enhance the image of the game, much better than they concentrate on doing the job efficiently rather than making a name for themselves for non football related reasons.

Maybe the referee has received some form of homophobic abuse from footballers or fans who have assumed his sexuality and went to the F.A for support?

Being gay isn't really private thing. It's is a key aspect of who that person is. Someone's private life is are they having an affair? Or how much money is in their bank account? Whilst I don't feel those in the public eye should have to announce their sexuality (either to stop the media doing it for them or to stop speculation), I don't feel they should have to hide it either. Everyone should be able to just live their lives.

Also, plenty of straight men brag about their sexual conquests. Maybe it's not a 'gay' thing. Maybe it's a man thing.

Oh and I saw the Gay Pride parade in New York a few years back, there was quite a lot of singing and dancing as it goes and it was amazing.

Fashanu's daughter could have found what she was looking for by going to a Premier League match tonight.
You can see the closet gays a mile off.
They are the ones who on a barely cold evening are wearing gloves! :no: :no: :no:

I was certainly amazed by what I witnessed on the streets of Exeter & so can well believe that New York would have been taken things to a different level.

I don't know anything about this particular case, but while the Referee in question may be eager to share with football fans a 'key aspect of who he is' I can understand if the F.A were more than a little unsure as to how gratefully football fans up & down the country would greet such joyous news...particularly when Mr.X next visited them on a match day.

Hopefully he hasn't suffered any abuse from a player or from fans. However I personally doubt that leaping out of the closet now will lessen the likelihood of it happening again, in fact it could have the opposite effect.

reminds me of the time,
brian clough, signed fash, was nt long before, the rot set in,
& during one game "old big head" was berating justin,
" & shouted at him from the dug out"
hey big man, i`m going to pull you off at half time!
to which the reply came back, ooo er missus, at norwich we only used get half an orange!!

People who stereotype gays as promiscuous and dirty, ala Alpine Joe's previous post, don't want gays to come out, and also make gays reluctant to come out. It's this negative perception that needs to change, but there are so many uneducated and ignorant people it isn't going to be easy.

quite agree monkeyboy, although i must add i`m not gay, but my boyfriend is!!