Aimee Walker
A gay premier league footballer has revealed he is too afraid to come out.
The unnamed player told The Sun he wants to be ‘open’ with people but he’s worried he will be ‘crucified’.
He reportedly said: “It’s 2021 and I should be able to be free to tell everyone who I am. But there are some fans on the terraces for whom it is still very much the 1980s.
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“I want to be open with people because it’s who I am and I am proud. But the truth is I will be crucified.”
Elsewhere in the chat, he spoke of his fear of getting abused by fans or being judged.
He continued: “When I play, I feel like the fans may guess and they are judging me.
“Am I coming across as camp? Can then tell from the clothes I wear off the pitch? It has had a terrible effect on me mentally. It’s terrifying.”
He has been in contact with Amal Fashanu, who is the niece of Britains’s first and only openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu.
She set up the Justin Fashanu Foundation to offer support to fellow gay footballers.
Fashanu came out as gay in 1990 but tragically died by suicide eight years later.
Last year, two premier league footballers reportedly told the foundation they had come out to close friends and family but were also too frightened of the wider reaction in the football world.
Amal told The Sun now ‘should be the perfect time’ for a premier league footballer to come out as gay.
She said: “But the reality is that homophobia, especially online, is more prevalent than ever.
“We need to protect these players.
“I am in constant dialogue with the FA about what can be done but, unfortunately, it’s an unprecedented situation so it’s hard to put in place measures for a situation that hasn’t yet occurred.”
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