(no subject)
Sep. 17th, 2012 10:57 amReally interesting newspaper interview with an anonymous gay Bundesliga footballer, talking about the pressures of the closet, why he’s in the closet anyway, traditional masculinity, fan culture, etc. It was translated from the German by the linguistically talented ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jenny_jenkins. I looked, but didn’t find any professional translations, so you’re reading Jenny.
One thing I found especially interesting was that this guy is already out to his teammates and manager, and they’re by and large comfortable with it. The part where he describes his teammates politely inquiring if he has a boyfriend kind of made me laugh a little. It seems to be the media and the fans that this guy is afraid of, not the reaction of his teammates and guys on other teams in the league. Which is progress, I suppose. I’m presuming this guy is German: he doesn’t mention the danger of being dropped from the international team of a socially conservative nation if he comes out.
I rather suspect the first* well-known footballer to come out will be someone who’s already retired and has nothing left to lose. But then, a lot of retired pros continue to earn a living in the business, going into coaching or TV punditry, so they might still be considered vulnerable. Maybe someone who retires and goes into something completely different. Or maybe someone who’s in a long-term relationship and his (justifiable) fear of the media/fans is outweighed by being sick and tired of sneaking around.
I read this on Jenny’s LJ, someone commenting that it’s a shame a bunch of closeted gay footballers from all around the world can’t get together and arrange to all come out on the same day. The media wouldn’t know who to harass first, and the pressure of being the FIRST ONE* would be lessened.
I'm intrigued, though, by the apparent dereliction of duty by the tabloid press. If there are top flight footballers who are out to their teammates, surely rumours would filter back to the press and they'd run stories. Please note that I'm NOT advocating the press harass these guys who no doubt have very good reasons for not wanting to be outed. I'm just slightly surprised that the press isn't outing people left right and centre.
* Technically, the first footballer to come out was Justin Fashanu back in the late 1980’s. But apparently that didn’t go very well for him, with fans, managers, or teammates. And there is a living footballer who’s out, Anton Hysen, who plays in the semi-professional third tier of Swedish football, but he’s not a top flight player. Not minimizing the guts it must've taken Hysen to take that step, but I suspect the media attention would be a lot more intense if someone is already a household name when they come out.
Edited to Add: in comments,kattahj points out that Anton Hysen is the son of Glenn Hysen, a very well-known retired Swedish footballer. So his coming out got more publicity than if he'd just been any old semi-pro, because his family is famous in footballing circles.
jenny_jenkins. I looked, but didn’t find any professional translations, so you’re reading Jenny. One thing I found especially interesting was that this guy is already out to his teammates and manager, and they’re by and large comfortable with it. The part where he describes his teammates politely inquiring if he has a boyfriend kind of made me laugh a little. It seems to be the media and the fans that this guy is afraid of, not the reaction of his teammates and guys on other teams in the league. Which is progress, I suppose. I’m presuming this guy is German: he doesn’t mention the danger of being dropped from the international team of a socially conservative nation if he comes out.
I rather suspect the first* well-known footballer to come out will be someone who’s already retired and has nothing left to lose. But then, a lot of retired pros continue to earn a living in the business, going into coaching or TV punditry, so they might still be considered vulnerable. Maybe someone who retires and goes into something completely different. Or maybe someone who’s in a long-term relationship and his (justifiable) fear of the media/fans is outweighed by being sick and tired of sneaking around.
I read this on Jenny’s LJ, someone commenting that it’s a shame a bunch of closeted gay footballers from all around the world can’t get together and arrange to all come out on the same day. The media wouldn’t know who to harass first, and the pressure of being the FIRST ONE* would be lessened.
I'm intrigued, though, by the apparent dereliction of duty by the tabloid press. If there are top flight footballers who are out to their teammates, surely rumours would filter back to the press and they'd run stories. Please note that I'm NOT advocating the press harass these guys who no doubt have very good reasons for not wanting to be outed. I'm just slightly surprised that the press isn't outing people left right and centre.
* Technically, the first footballer to come out was Justin Fashanu back in the late 1980’s. But apparently that didn’t go very well for him, with fans, managers, or teammates. And there is a living footballer who’s out, Anton Hysen, who plays in the semi-professional third tier of Swedish football, but he’s not a top flight player. Not minimizing the guts it must've taken Hysen to take that step, but I suspect the media attention would be a lot more intense if someone is already a household name when they come out.
Edited to Add: in comments,
kattahj points out that Anton Hysen is the son of Glenn Hysen, a very well-known retired Swedish footballer. So his coming out got more publicity than if he'd just been any old semi-pro, because his family is famous in footballing circles.
