Badger Boy
Mr Badger
- Jan 28, 2016
- 3,658
There is no chance that there is not a gay footballer in our squad. It's been many years since I played the game, but even in my day there were a few boys who were known to favour the company of men. They had to be better players on the pitch to avoid being slagged off and that was unfair, but it was a reality at the time. We had a few black lads who felt there was an expectation they perform better and be better prepared/behaved as well. Even in my time that was changing but there were some teams we'd come up against who would try and rattle our black players with snarky comments. We defended our own but there was always some needle just under the surface. It's important that support isn't silent. It was important that we didn't have an "unspoken" understanding. We made sure we let our mates know we supported them. When we had a birthday or some other function and a lad showed up with another man there wasn't any pretending they weren't a couple, it was a culture of spoken acceptance. It wasn't always that way but it got better with time and with more players being comfortable telling us they were gay.
I have no doubt at all that Burn's comments will mean a lot to certain individuals and I really don't think there's a dressing room in the country which would be changed in a significant way by a gay footballer announcing it. It's not how dressing rooms are and it's not how men are in the majority. Some would have a problem, some would react badly but the majority wouldn't have a problem so long as the player is performing.
I have no doubt at all that Burn's comments will mean a lot to certain individuals and I really don't think there's a dressing room in the country which would be changed in a significant way by a gay footballer announcing it. It's not how dressing rooms are and it's not how men are in the majority. Some would have a problem, some would react badly but the majority wouldn't have a problem so long as the player is performing.