More than 1 in 10 professional footballers know a gay player, survey says

More than one in 10 professional footballers know a gay player, a new survey has revealed.

The poll, by sports magazine FourFourTwo, anonymously asked 100 professional players across all UK leagues about issues in football, and found that 11% of players know of a gay player.

A Premier League footballer anonymously responded that while most players are “comfortable” with their gay teammates, some find sharing a locker room “awkward”.

“I know a gay player at a previous club,” he told the survey. “Everyone knows and most of the lads are comfortable with it. Some are a bit awkward, but that’s their problem.”

A League One player also commented: “If a player did come out, I think everyone would be supportive, but I’m 100% sure that people in the changing room would be joking, and that some would be ripping it out of him.

“If there is a gay player in our changing room I would understand why he wouldn’t come out.”

The only footballer to come out in recent years is former Leeds United player Robbie Rogers, who revealed he was gay and simultaneously announced his retirement from the sport in February 2013 shortly after parting ways with the club.

Rogers signed with the US team Los Angeles Galaxy in May that year however, becoming the first openly gay male athlete any of the five major North American sports leagues.

Earlier this year, the 27-year-old revealed that while he had been in touch with several closeted gay sports stars since coming out, he’d not heard from “one” gay footballer.

Meanwhile, Coronation Street star Antony Cotton also recently commented on the lack of out gay footballers in the UK, saying that there must be “hundreds” of them.

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