Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
Yeah, fair point and don't get me wrong..I agree with you really. I just think the 'changing room banter' type atmosphere is a fear for players, more than how a crowd would react.

I agree, in practice you would like to think players would be fine, I can just imagine its an intimidator environment in which to come out into.

Either way, this is clearly a bigger issue for football specifically, as it doesn't seem to matter so much in other sports.

In practice, I think any player would get far more support than opposition, and most importantly, most wouldn't care either way, which is how it should be.
I can see your reasoning but I think the changing room camaraderie would take priority over abusive “banter”. I’ve never been in a professional football changing room but back when I was playing school/weekend football I think a player would’ve been fully supported had they come out as gay and any comments, etc from the edgier lot would’ve been nipped in the bud by the team.

I agree there would be much more support and praise for the player than abuse and opposition when it comes to how fans in the stands would react but I can definitely imagine there would be a decent chunk of abuse even if it’s from the minority.