Professional footballer declares that he is gay

[Canton Kev]

Good for him. It's absurd that more footballers don't feel free to come out.

Like you said, it's different in all countries. I would add to that that I think the problem is greater in the changing room than the terraces.

Gotta disagree with you there. It’s much harder to insult someone to their face when you work with them 40+ hours a week than it is to be part of a crowd of thousands anonymously abusing someone.
Footballers are younger on average than the people in the stands and not to tar everyone with the same brush, the younger generation are typically more understanding and open about homosexuality than older people.

[JamesWales]

Gotta disagree with you there. It’s much harder to insult someone to their face when you work with them 40+ hours a week than it is to be part of a crowd of thousands anonymously abusing someone.
Footballers are younger on average than the people in the stands and not to tar everyone with the same brush, the younger generation are typically more understanding and open about homosexuality than older people.

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.