The First Male Professional Footballer To Come Out Since 1990
Why has it taken so long for the closet doors to open?
Jake Daniels’ carefully choreographed appearance yesterday showed a man relieved to talk openly about himself. Appearing poised and in control of his own story, he delivered his lines to a carefully chosen journalist sitting in the locker room, support from his club evident through the whole choreographed piece.
Contrast this to the experience of the first man to publicly out himself in 1990 and you can understand part of the reason why it’s taken so long.
Remembering Justin Fashanu
Justin Fashanu sold his coming-out story to The Sun, partly to control the narrative (they were threatening to out him anyway), and partly to support young gay men suffering homophobic abuse. He understood the power of role models, the power of the press and the power of public opinion. What he failed to anticipate was the backlash from football fans in general and the black community in particular. While his team supported him, football fans were brutal in their condemnation and his career took a nosedive.
His experience, unfortunately, was a common one.
There was a time when coming out had dire consequences for your public profile and that time was the 1990s. Those were the bad old days of Section 28, DOMA, and Ellen getting cancelled for her shocking “Puppy” episode.
Anyone wanting to come out had to face some pretty dire consequences.
But this has all changed, right? We live in the liberated 2020s, where real men wear their hair long, knit sweaters and dance to the Spice Girls. In this context, why does football culture lag so far behind the rest of society?
Where women are leagues ahead
Being out and proud isn’t such an issue for the women’s league. Over 40 women in the last World Cup were out as gay or bisexual, a fact celebrated by news outlets and fans alike.
Superstars like Megan Rapinoe can take some of the credit for this. Her incredible talent, stellar performances and confidence off-pitch gives younger players a strong role model to emulate.
I’m holding out for more than a hero
Yet role models are only part of the story. The male premier league draws a global audience of billions, garnering them fame and huge pay packets. Put simply, they have the eyes of the world watching them and the consequences of a misstep are huge: loss of earnings, loss of status, loss of potential sponsorships.
And what might be acceptable in England in 2022 is very far from acceptable in Qatar, Khazakstan or Colombia.
The door is ajar, not fully open
It has taken 32 years for football culture to be accepting enough for a young player to come out of the closet. Western society has moved far faster outside the macho walls of the football locker room, yet there are still high potential risks in terms of future earnings, sponsorship deals and status in many countries outside Europe and the USA.
I felt a huge amount of relief at hearing Jake Daniel’s story, followed by respect. Let’s hope he paves the way for other players currently standing at the half-open closet door.
