A recent survey revealed that more than one in four British professional soccer players, coaches and referees personally know gay players currently in the game.
“Of theprofessional players, coaches and referees in the survey, over one in four (27 percent) personally know gay players currently in the game, though none have taken the step of coming out,”Researcher Ellis Cashmore, a professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University, said. “There are about half a million professional football players in the world. Notone of them is openly gay. Football fans are now challenging the game’s governing organizations to oppose the culture of secrecy surrounding gay players.
“It seems commercialpressures are behind football’s secretiveness. But being gay hasn’t hurt the careers of actors, musicians and politicians, and people in the study think that the first openly gayfootballer would have tremendous branding opportunities.”