Jonathan Fear from Vital Aston Villa recently posted an anonymous survey on fans’ views towards gay football players.
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This is in response to the Premier League dropping a campaign on this issue and Max Clifford claiming that ‘football is steeped in homophobia’. We want to assess how fans feel about this. The response to phase 1 has been terrific (over 2000 replies in 3 weeks!). Here are some of the main findings from phase 1:
· 93% Of fans think there is no place for homophobia in football
· 7% think that football is no place for gays
· 60% Want gay players to ‘be brave’ and come out
· 40% Don’t want gay players to come out, most think it’s a strictly private matter
· 90%+ Think the only thing that matters in football is how the player plays… not his sexual preferences
· 80%+ Think Max Clifford, who said football is stuck in the ‘dark ages’ is part of the problem not the solution
· 60%+ Disagree with Gordon Taylor’s ‘cowardly’ decision not to support an anti-homophobia campaign.
· Fans believe gay players choose not to come out to protect their commercial value, not because they fear the reaction of fans or teammates.
* Many fans see parallels between black players in the 1970s/80s and gay players today DISCUSS
In fact, Gordon Taylor, the chief of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), has replied to the interim results of the topfan online survey of fans’ views on homophobia and gay players and we are happy to set the facts straight. Mr Taylor writes…’Never at any time have I withdrawn support for an anti homophobia campaign and in fact quite the opposite.’ As an organization, the PFA states: ‘We welcome the opportunity to lead the field in this area, as we have done with racism…we do not have any members of the PFA who have openly declared they are gay. If a player approached us regarding this matter there are support mechanisms in place to ensure the player has the full support of the Association.’
Check www.topfan.co.uk for the full statement, latest results and make your contribution to Phase 2 of the project.
I hope you can still see its worth, especially now we have engaged with Gordon Taylor and the PFA. Please log on and give us your thoughts via the poll (less than 2 mins) www.topfan.co.uk
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