Jake Daniels

Yes I have but rarely, I've heard we want to play attractive entertaining football, entertain the crowd etc. All spectator sports wish to entertain.

When you widen it significantly to British Entertainment Industry football is a long way down the list in my head, maybe you put it up alongside the theatre, movies, television and musical artists. The latest James Bond movie, Hamilton the musical, The Rolling Stones and Blackpool FC. Sounds right lol

Hold on , you may have lost me here , but are you saying it's not brave to come out to your family but is to come out to a nation? Probably not but want to make sure.

If it doesn't take bravery, it could earn you more money than you would have earned without making a public announcement and he won't receive more abuse (online or from the stands), then since 1990 scores and scores of footballers have missed a golden opportunity to seriously cash in. What were they waiting for a ****ager to go first in 2022?

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

Nobody has said that he's done it for the money, have they? I don't want to speak on anybody else's behalf but I think the general point being made is that there's nothing particularly brave or heroic about coming out in the British entertainment industry in 2022. The fact that he's likely to benefit - both financially and in his career as a result of going full public - backing up that very point.

If it were the case that it really was a brave thing to do, he'd be potentially jeopardizing his career and facing widespread condemnation from large sections of the media, the game itself and the general public. That's not going to happen.

We'll have to see where he goes with this before judging his motives. Fair play to Daniels if he does decide to take this further and puts his head above the parapet by drawing direct attention to the communities and nations where gay people are living in genuine fear and danger to the point of being ostracised by family or facing a death sentence. That would be brave and heroic.

I know people don't like having cold water poured on their opportunity to virtue signal, but for god's sake let's have some proper perspective.

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Blimey, this thread has accused him of doing it for the fame and adulation, claimed it’s his fault if he gets abused, and now you’re saying he needs to speak out for gay rights across the world. A little reminder that he’s 17, about a year older than my lad who still needs someone to put milk on his coco pops in the morning.

You’re dead right about some perspective being required.

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Originally Posted by BigFatPie

A very brave decision for a 17 year old to come out, the first since Justin Fashanu and it’s likely there would have been dozens of gay footballers in the intervening period. Let’s hope he’s a good example for other young gay footballers who might see that a career in the professional game could be for them as well.

I would hope homophobic abuse is a thing of the past at Meadow Lane, and anyone who shouted it would be closed down by those around them.

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Only dozens? I would wager a hell of a lot more than that..

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Originally Posted by BigFatPie

Blimey, this thread has accused him of doing it for the fame and adulation, claimed it’s his fault if he gets abused, and now you’re saying he needs to speak out for gay rights across the world. A little reminder that he’s 17, about a year older than my lad who still needs someone to put milk on his coco pops in the morning.

You’re dead right about some perspective being required.

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I haven't said he needs to do anything. I'd be impressed by anybody that did dare speak up, but I wouldn't expect it of anyone.

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Originally Posted by BigFatPie

Blimey, this thread has accused him of doing it for the fame and adulation, claimed it’s his fault if he gets abused, and now you’re saying he needs to speak out for gay rights across the world. A little reminder that he’s 17, about a year older than my lad who still needs someone to put milk on his coco pops in the morning.

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Which makes the whole thing even more ridiculous, at 17 you know nothing, who you or what you are, you’ve just started the journey of life. If he’s been pushed down this route by someone it’s bordering on child abuse like the Greta Thunberg **** show.

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Originally Posted by laddo

Yes I have but rarely, I've heard we want to play attractive entertaining football, entertain the crowd etc. All spectator sports wish to entertain.

When you widen it significantly to British Entertainment Industry football is a long way down the list in my head, maybe you put it up alongside the theatre, movies, television and musical artists. The latest James Bond movie, Hamilton the musical, The Rolling Stones and Blackpool FC. Sounds right lol

Hold on , you may have lost me here , but are you saying it's not brave to come out to your family but is to come out to a nation? Probably not but want to make sure.

If it doesn't take bravery, it could earn you more money than you would have earned without making a public announcement and he won't receive more abuse (online or from the stands), then since 1990 scores and scores of footballers have missed a golden opportunity to seriously cash in. What were they waiting for a ****ager to go first in 2022?

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As far as I'm aware Blackpool FC's primary function isn't health care, education, politics, tansport etc. etc. So yes I would bracket them in with TV, film and pop music - one of several areas of the entertainment industry with its' varying degrees of celebrity ranging from local level to national, with the opportunity for those who want it to gain more attention and validation than, for example, a lorry driver who might want the whole world to know what his se><uality is on the basis that he can be himself and so that he doesn't have to lie or pretend the next time he fills up with diesel.

I was asking you, rather than making a statement, whether or not you thought it less brave or not brave at all to come out to family, friends and colleagues than it is to take it to social or mass media where you're pretty much guaranteed overwhelmingly positive feedback with a safety net of the threat of cancellation or police investigation for anybody who might want to push back.

For somebody in a situation where family members or close friends have made it clear they have a problem with gay people, then they would run the risk of damaging relationships with people that matter to them. Perhaps a person in that position would be more deserving of being described as brave.

We don't know how many gay professional footballers there have been since Justin Fashanu, but whatever the number (and assuming it's more than zero) it could be that some at least have valued being known as a footballer purely based on their football ability alone over any inflated acclaim or reward they might or might not have got for being a gay footballer. For others, it may be a case that they haven't wanted to come out in public because that would mean they wouldn't be able to keep it from a certain family member or friend who they know would struggle with it.

Can we put your statement of widening it to the Entertainment Industry as a 'stretch'? Or not? In fact why widen it at all we are talking about young footballer at a football club. You could have at least stopped at professional sports, or doesn't that help your argument?

I honestly have no idea which you have to have more courage for as I've got no personal or close experience of this. I suspect it varies depending upon your family environment and how accepting or not they would be. Can we just state that it's takes courage and bravery for both scenarios? Jake took a brave decision either way?

And your are right we don't know how many gay professional footballers there have been since Fashanu's announcement 32 years ago. We could take a guess based on national statistics and apply them to the total number of professional footballers to get an approximate number.

We we do however know is the number who have openly declared their ***uality in the past 32 years whilst still an active footballer and that tells us all a lot. Divide one number by the other and you are talking a fair few decimal places.

We of course don't know the personal reasons why gay footballers over the past 3 decades haven't you suggested a couple of very valid reasons. A third could be they were worried/scared/petrified of how their teammates or more likely opposition supporters would react to the news. A fourth could be that they would worry that it would detrimentally impact their football career. Presumably it's a game they love so would not wish to impact their love of the beautiful game or shorten it. Two more valid reasons?#balance.

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Originally Posted by laddo

A third could be they were worried/scared/petrified of how their teammates or more likely opposition supporters would react to the news. .

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This would have definitely been a reason not to come out in 1992, less so in 2002 and so on. IIRC there was a story fairly recently of a group of fans being arrested or an appeal for witnesses over some homophobic chant being directed at Brighton & Hove Albion, so we know that the police would be involved if any player coming out or anybody else made a complaint and it would likely be swiftly stamped out.
This would not however necessarily apply abroad.

I think there's a lot of people who don't realise the level of homophobic abuse that is still around, especially in football. It's very naïve to think this isn't a massive deal.

This lad coming out publicly will help many Young people feel braver about going out and joining a local team and hopefully be themselves.

What do we think of this then............


https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/psg-...c9679ece37bb04

Paris Saint-Germain Idrissa Gueye will have to answer allegations that he missed his team's last Ligue 1 match in protest at the division's gesture in support of LGBTQI+ rights.