Most Football Fans are not Homophobic, says European Study
Ask a football fan to name a gay professional footballer and they'll almost certainly come up with one name: Justin Fashanu, the former Nottingham Forest player who took his own life in 1998 and is still the only professional English footballer to come out in public.
English football's homophobic reputation – justified or not – was encapsulated by Max Clifford. The PR man, not known for shying away from a headline, admitted telling two big-name gay Premiership players to hide their homosexuality because football "remains in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia".
But, according to new research from Staffordshire University, that view stems from a total misunderstanding of the average fan's mindset.
A large-scale study by academics at the university found that 80% of football fans are "relaxed" about the presence of gay footballers in the English leagues and would "welcome more honesty from players about their sexuality". The research, by Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire, and his colleague Dr Jamie Cleland, senior lecturer in sociology, involved 3,000 football fans, professional players, referees and managers giving their views on homophobia.
Cashmore explains that the inspiration came from claims such as Clifford's that football was steeped in homophobia: "We thought we would put this to the test," he says. "And in fact we found that most fans are embarrassed by the assumption that they are rabidly homophobic. They emphatically state that the only feature of a player that interests them is whether or not he can play. As one fan put it, 'I'd rather have a gay player who can play football than a straight player who can't'."
The overall picture wasn't entirely rosy. Other sample comments from fans included "Gays can't play football – fact" and "I'm homophobic, so would find it weird chanting for an openly gay player". Indeed, Cashmore says he was surprised by the "curious logic of football fans", who "on the one hand react to accusations of homophobia and encourage gay players to come out, but at the same time tolerate what appears to be rampantly homophobic abuse practically every week". The professor singles out terrace chants such as "xxx takes it up the arse", "you play like a tart" and "xxx is a poof" or "bender", but says fans responded by saying: "That's not homophobia, it's just stick. It doesn't mean we are against gays."
"In the logic of a fan, that's just stick designed to put opposition players off their game," Cashmore says.
The researchers say they can understand why outsiders to the sport might assume that those involved in football might believe it to be homophobic. "After all, most other major sports, including the virulently macho rugby league, have openly gay players, yet not the beautiful game," Cashmore says. "But our evidence shows that fans really are interested only in playing performance – the abuse is theatre. Football fans are not moralisers – they don't set themselves up as the arbiters on issues of right and wrong."
That, he adds, may be good news for the likes of Wayne Rooney and his fellow England players who have been hit by allegations of philandering in recent weeks.
The Staffordshire researchers' findings highlighted the potential scale of gay secrecy in football: 27% of the professionals who responded to the survey said they personally knew of gay (current) players. Their positions might be helped by the fact that Cashmore and Cleland have sent a summary of their findings, as well as recommendations for the future, to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. The academics want the industry to absorb the fact that it might not be fear of fans' homophobia, but other concerns, that are stopping players from coming out.
"One issue is that the majority of respondents believe that gay players are prevented from coming out by their clubs and their agents," muses Cashmore. "I guess recent events, with [Manchester United manager] Sir Alex Ferguson effectively punishing Rooney for his excesses [he didn't name him on the team sheet in the match after allegations about Rooney's private life], add weight to this view. Clubs do not like players who court controversy and command more interest than the clubs themselves."
Agents could also be to blame, according to Cashmore. "Clifford's comments suggest that agents think – probably wrongly – that gay footballers would not be marketable," he says. "But another point that we have emphasised to the FA and PFA is that a great many of the respondents saw parallels between the current situation and that in the 1970s and 1980s when black players were subject to racist abuse."
Cashmore says that black former players such as Ruud Gullit, Tony Yeboah and Patrick Vieira "cleared the air" of racism in football "by asking: 'How could you verbally abuse players who were so conspicuously skilful?' The same goes for gay players, who – unlike black players – are invisible," he says. "If they came out and played well, the whole gay issue would disappear as surely as racism did from English football. Allow it to fester, as it seems to be at present, and it could turn poisonous."
• The next stage of the researchers' survey on the attitudes and opinions of football fans on homosexuality in football is available at www.topfan.co.uk
Comments