Anton
Hysén is a unique footballer. He is the son of former Liverpool
defender Glenn and plays for Swedish second division team Utsiktens
BK. On paper, his career is nothing special and yet there remains
nobody else in world football like him.
Hysén
is the only openly gay footballer in the professional game today.
There
is no entirely accurate statistic for the percentage of men who are
homosexual, but even in a sport that is still perceived to be the
epitome of masculinity, the sum total simply has to be greater than
one.
The
question, therefore, remains: Why do professional athletes feel a
need to hide their sexuality?
Whilst
racism continues to dominate the news, the time seems right to
contrast Britain's attitudes towards the two. Both are forms of
personal discrimination, but the level of tolerance towards
homophobic comments in stadia remains far greater than that seen with
racism. The British game has made fantastic strides in the fight
against racism, but other forms of discrimination need to be brought
into line with the FA's primary anti-discrimination campaign.
In
February 2010, PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor stated that a
campaign to remove homophobia in football did not rank as highly on
the game's agenda as it should have. Speaking about the FA's
abandoned campaign video and the absence of professional footballers
in it, Taylor said: “They wanted one player at every club and the
Premier League didn't think it was a big enough issue”.
This
is the route of the problem. There are many forms of personal abuse
present within football, but even the game's hierarchy have been seen
to prioritise which victims need support the most. It is to the
game's credit that a player who is racially abused knows such actions
will not be tolerated, but other forms of abuse must receive similar
punishment. Until sport has a zero-tolerance policy on homophobic
abuse, athletes will continue to hide their sexuality, if only to
avoid the unwanted attention it can create.
The
openly gay former Welsh rugby union star Gareth Thomas has cited
uncertainty as to the response of his team-mates as one of the
greatest struggles in his battle to reveal his sexuality. Thomas says
that his fellow professionals “didn't even blink” when they heard
the news.
This
week, the PFA issued posters to all 92 Premier League and Football
League clubs to promote the issue of homophobia in football, with the
intention of creating a similar 'so what?' culture. Finally, it seems
that football is viewing homophobia as the significant issue that it
really is.
Homophobic
abuse at football matches in Britain remains widespread. It is not
uncommon for thousands of fans to vocally question a player's
sexuality due to the style of their haircut. These comments may be in
jest, but the doubts sewn in the minds of homosexual players as to
whether they would be tolerated are far more damaging.
Earlier
this month, Oxford City sacked striker Lee Steele for a homophobic
tweet relating to Thomas' appearance on Celebrity Big Brother
on his Twitter account, whilst Crawley Town's Hope Akpan and former
Everton defender Michael Ball were both fined by the FA for
homophobic posts. Ball's fine of £6,000 was the highest fine ever
imposed by the FA for this type of discrimination. It would appear
that slow progress is being made.
We
are at the beginning of the road in terms of tackling homophobia in
sport. The flaws of a minority within society will almost certainly
be exposed if players in Britain 'come out', but it is only through
such bravery that we can begin to remedy the game's problems.
The
day that Anton Hysén is
no longer seen as special remains a long way away, but it is
something to aim for.
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