To say that gay footballers ARE still role models

[Livetoplay]

I help coach a girls football team for 9-11 year olds. Fab bunch of kids who, unsurprisingly, LOVE the Lionnesses football team and have their individual heroes - Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson etc - who they view as role models.
one day I could be like…

we use these women as examples to the kids of what hard work, practice, good team work etc can achieve -

one of the dads who helps out has somehow only now found out how many of the Lionesses are gay, and had a convo with me about how he thinks they maybe aren’t good role models ‘ given the circumstances’. He seems particularly pissed off that Leah Williamson has a girlfriend. His daughter worships her, and I think he actually had a bit of a crush himself.

have told him to stop being so ridiculous, the kids don’t care, no-one cares. I doubt the kids even think about it and even if they did suss that Lucy Bronze has a female partner, they are not going to give a stuff!

AIBU to say he’s being a twat!? We left it a bit frosty but I won’t put up with this nonsense. He thinks it ‘unprofessional’ for them to date England teammates. But it certainly hasn’t done the team any harm so far…

thisnisnt the first time I’ve had to shut blokes or male coaches down about the sexuality of women players, which they seem to seem as some kind of joke.

I think it's great that you talked him through it rather than just banning him from helping. Hope he makes good progress.

I'm really impressed that you had the patience to talk it out with him rather than just calling him a homophobic arse. You are a better woman than I!

Yes he is homophobic. But who people choose to sleep with is their own business, their sexuality should not even matter.

‘I'm really impressed that you had the patience to talk it out with him rather than just calling him a homophobic arse. You are a better woman than I!’

TBH it was for the girl’s sake. Puberty’s about to hit and if she’s gay then the best we can do for her is make sure she’s safe and accepted in her football peer group ( not many worries there I think) and if we can help her dad get his head around it too then she’ll be happier long term too.

I know this isn’t the point of the thread but this:

I help coach a girls football team for 9-11 year olds. Fab bunch of kids who, unsurprisingly, LOVE the Lionnesses football team and have their individual heroes - Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson etc - who they view as role models.
one day I could be like…

..brought a little tear to my eye. We have come so far in the last 10 years!

I remember really hoping that women’s football would ascend- I saw Alex Scott on a CBeebies programme years ago and I thought ‘good for you - putting women footballers into kids’ radar’, then she became a pundit - in everyone’s radar… I am so happy we are where we are.

As for this dad. He sounds a bit insecure and threatened. I am so happy that girls have role models like this now.

Power groups? WTF are you talking about?

So update, the dad has come on in leaps and bounds! Totally changed his attitude, apparently his DW gave him a bit of a talking too as well and he's got over his 'gay panic' which is probably a good thing cos his kid is brilliant, sweet, thoughtful, a great player and the fact that she probably is gay should be the last thing anyone thinks of.

Of course they are if they’re also generally decent and law abiding, being gay on its own wouldn’t make anyone a role model.

It seems he is upset that they aren’t ‘available’ to him, which is a far too common view from straight men about gay women.

It seems he is upset that they aren’t ‘available’ to him, which is a far too common view from straight men about gay women.‘

tell me about it. I’ve had men who wouldn’t have been interested in me in a million years if I was straight get really pissed off thatbi’m
gay!

says the poster who thinks section 28 was totally fine

I'm a lesbian who only had the courage to come out over the past few years, things like this just make me so afraid. The fact you are questioning if he's being unreasonable or not makes it almost worse.

Of course he's a twat.

Entirely this

The guy is an idiot, I'd bet that there are players from different clubs that date. It's no different to meeting someone at work and with the homophobia surrounding football that's probably the safest way of not being outed.

We’re long overdue a high profile male footballer coming out…

Going by some of the chants I've heard I wouldn't hold your breath.

The difference between going to women’s matches - loads of women, kids, singing, fans mixed, DJs and dancing at the big games - to men’s is astounding!
We’ve given up on watching men play in stadiums anymore, the kids started off going loads to women’s, then the women’s Euros happened and then we took them to a men’s Premier match and the kids were genuinely scared - the aggression and language was unbelievable even in the ‘family’ section.

There's an openly gay player at Blackpool but he's a 19yo reserve who keeps getting loaned to semi-professional clubs and looks unlikely to make the grade. I would not think that it's his sexuality holding him back as lots of male players are given a one or two year contract when they turn 18, fail to break into the team and that's the end of their professional career so he's following a well-trodden path unfortunately.