I was watching a fairly dull football match and it just occurred to me, are there any openly gay ex footballers out there?
Apparently of 5000 professional footballers in UK, none are openly gay.
One lower league player apparently was outed accidentally, but none followed. But, apparently he didn't have any problem. So football fans are not necessarily as homophobic as people (we) assume?
Whereas pride events (such as today) are very popular in the media, supported by big businesses and seemingly almost part of the mainstream culture, yet football seems to have an issue.
So who perpetuates homophobia in the game - some blame the fans, others blame the authorities... or is the general silence part of the problem?
Anyway, on the original point, even if gay footballers hide their sexuality while playing, what happens when they stop being footballers? Do they continue to act straight forever, or quietly come out later? It just occurred to me I couldn't think of any example where we hear that ex United player Jim settled down with Brian...