One fifth of sports fans would prefer gay players keep their sexuality to themselves

A BBC Radio 5 live survey found there is a still a stigma with homophobia in sports in the UK.

ComRes has done a  survey of 4000 sports fans for BBC Radio 5’s Afternoon Edition which sheds light on attitudes within football.

9% of football fans said they would not feel comfortable if a player came out as gay, with one in 12 fans saying they would stop supporting their team if a player came out as gay.

Along with this, 18% of fans claimed in the survey that by having a gay player it would make other teammates feel uncomfortable. Also, 18% of fans think that gay players should “keep it to themselves.”

Unsurprisingly, 50% of fans said they have hear homophobic abuse at a game.

However the survey did show that 71% of football fans think clubs should do more to educate fans on homophobia and over half of sports fans believe gay players should come out to inspire others to do the same.

Currently, premiere league football has no out football players. Retired player have come out in the past but that was after they had stopped playing the sport.

Justin Fashanu, who played football in the 1980s and 1990s, was the only footballer to reveal he was gay during his career. Sadly, he took his own life after homophobic abuse and being accused of sexual assault fearing his trial wouldn’t be fair because of his sexuality.

Football Association chairman Greg Clarke told MPs he was “cautious” of encouraging players to come out. He said he thinks they could suffer “significant abuse” from fans.

Clarke also said that he felt “personally ashamed” that some players do not not feel “safe” to come out.