External News
‘We don’t care who you love as long as you love football’: meet Manchester’s only gay football club
2 August 2017
Village Manchester FC were formed in 1996 as a gay and inclusive club that welcomes anyone who loves football – gay, bi or straight. They currently have two teams and are among over 20 recognised gay teams in the country.
Village Manchester Football Club host tournament
13 July 2017
Village Manchester Football Club, the city’s gay and inclusive club, will be hosting this year’s annual gay and inclusive 7-a-side tournament on Saturday 15 July at The Armitage Centre in Fallowfield. The tournament is hosted by a different city each year.
Britain’s only gay semi-professional footballer says first Premier League player to come out will feel like a ‘sacrificial lamb’
11 January 2017
The Sun: If a Premier League footballer were to come out as gay he may feel like a ‘sacrificial lamb’. That is the view of the country’s only openly homosexual semi-professional footballer Liam Davis.
As many as 500 gay footballers - but not one has come out as FA calls for them to do so on same day
9 January 2017
Mirror: A big group of football stars should come out as gay on the same day, the boss of the FA has suggested. Greg Clarke said they should choose the first day of next season to make their move – breaking one of the last taboos in sport.
Several football players are in talks with the FA to come out publicly
9 January 2017
Gay Times: Football Association chief Greg Clarke has revealed that he’s in discussions with gay players about a plan for them to all come out at once. The head of the FA said that they have devised the potential strategy as no single player wants to be the “first” one to come out publicly.
The love that still won't speak its name on Britain's football pitches: The Pass is a timely film on gay players
16 December 2016
Daily Mail: That some top players are gay is hardly in doubt, but they have chosen to stay firmly in the closet, understandably believing that the culture of the game, and of course the fans, are not ready to accept them.
Russian MPs accuse Fifa 17 video game of 'gay propaganda'
5 December 2016
The Guardian: Developer EA Sports backed a campaign in the UK to combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football. Russian MPs have asked the state communications oversight agency to take action against the Fifa 17 video game for violating the country’s law against gay propaganda.
Europe’s first openly-gay footballer hoping a Premier League player comes out as homosexual
3 December 2016
The Mirror:
Europe’s first openly-gay footballer claims that if a Premier League player came out as homosexual, it would be huge for the game globally. But Anton Hysen says that such a brave move MUST be supported by football bosses and authorities.
Rainbow Laces: EFL and its clubs turn rainbow to support Stonewall campaign
28 November 2016
EFL: Over the weekend, the EFL and its clubs turned rainbow in support of Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign. The campaign is about making sport everyone's game, welcoming of lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) fans and players on and off the pitch.
Premier League supports Rainbow Laces
24 November 2016
Premier League: Premier League clubs will show their support this weekend for Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign at their matches. All 10 Premier League fixtures on Saturday and Sunday will include Rainbow Laces perimeter board advertising, pre-match Rainbow Laces flags and a host of other activities to highlight the hard work undertaken by clubs and their supporter groups to welcome fans in their stadiums, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.
‘A fag*ot with a lot of money’ Cristiano Ronaldo hits back at alleged homophobic jibe
21 November 2016
Pink News: Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at an alleged homophobic attack by saying he was “a fag*ot with a lot of money, sh*thead”. The Real Madrid striker was responding to Atletico Madrid player Koke who allegedly called him “a fag*ot”.
Why would a footballer come out if it is all he is to become known for?
10 November 2016
The Telegraph: Last year the Daily Mirror insisted that by the start of the 2016-17 season, two prominent Premier League footballers – one of them an England international – would have publicly announced they were gay. After what happened in the United States this week, it might be thought that when it comes to predictions it is never wise to be too bold.
Homophobia in football: Footballers 'would perform better if they came out'
8 November 2016
BBC Sport: Gay Premier League footballers would perform better if they were to come out, a parliamentary hearing on homophobia in sport has been told. British race walker Tom Bosworth and former NBA star John Amaechi told MPs that players would be able to focus on their sport instead of "hiding".
Gay Premier League players are scared to come out, John Amaechi tells MPs
8 November 2016
The Guardian: English football has been far too slow to tackle an environment where homophobia is still sometimes “tolerated” and gay players are scared to come out, a parliamentary committee was told on Tuesday.
Lower league football clubs can benefit financially from signing openly gay player according to professor
26 October 2016
ITV: Despite a recent BBC survey suggesting eight per cent of fans would boycott their team if they were to sign a homosexual footballer, Professor Tom Cannon from the University of Liverpool believes extra support would be found in the LGBT community.
Why football IS ready for a gay player to come out... why Chris Sutton disagrees with FA chairman Greg Clarke who says players would suffer 'significant abuse'
18 October 2016
Daily Mail: There has never been a better time for a footballer to come out and say: ‘I am gay.’ I completely disagree with Greg Clarke’s comments to the governance of football inquiry. The FA chairman said he ‘loathes’ and ‘feels ashamed’ that football has not created the ‘safe space’ — but when is that likely to happen? Five years? Ten years?
Openly gay Premier League players would get 'significant abuse', says FA chairman
17 October 2016
BBC Sport: Premier League players would still suffer "significant abuse" if they chose to reveal they are gay, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has warned. Clarke was answering Commons Select Committee questions at the government's governance of football inquiry.
LGBT Rights in Football: Should the sport appoint gay ambassadors?
28 May 2015
O-Posts: In 2012 the UK’s Football Association launched a plan to make football more inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people. The plan included a range of initiatives to tackle homophobia and encourage people to enjoy and be involved in football regardless of their sexuality.
Irish equal rights: Why football must be next
26 May 2015
Huffington Post: Never short of an opinion, and in one of his more perky reflections to date, Morrissey has suggested that the same-sex marriage referendum in his homeland at the weekend was a case of "the people once again teaching the church, the people once again teaching politics". If an upside of the oft-maligned referendum is people-power, it makes you wonder where else it could be employed to useful effect
Homophobia in sport study reveals results that are 'alarming' and 'surprising'
12 May 2015
The Guardian: Based on the numbers from the recently-released “Out In The Fields” survey, homophobia in sport appears to be so prevalent that had the survey pertained to Jews, black people, red-heads, left-handers, disabled war veterans or any other sub-set of our humankind (outside, it seems, gay people) there’d be calls for sport to be outlawed.
Gay teen soccer player wishes Robbie Rogers happy birthday, thanks him for saving his life
12 May 2015
Outsports: Michael Martin is a high school soccer player in West Virginia who is openly gay. His story about attending the senior prom with his boyfriend two weeks ago struck a chord with a lot of people.
Robbie Rogers calls for bans over homophobia in sports stadiums
10 May 2015
The Guardian: Robbie Rogers, the first professional footballer in England to come out as gay since Justin Fashanu, has called for a zero tolerance approach to homophobia in sport in light of a major survey that reveals disturbing levels of abuse and bullying.
Cameron, Clegg and Miliband take on homophobia in football
23 April 2015
Gay Times: The leaders also discusses the World Cup being held in Qatar... Earlier this week we revealed what the big three party leaders had to say on tackling homophobia in Uganda and the Commonwealth as the general election draws near. Well, with the General Election looming, we’re back with current Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Lib Dem chief and Deputy PM Nick Clegg on how they’ll handle another LGBT issue if elected into power.
Frank Lampard on gay football players: 'I would love it if someone came out and everyone treated it with respect'
6 April 2015
The Independent: Frank Lampard has challenged existing ideas that footballers are all “macho”, suggesting that attitudes towards sexuality on and off the pitch have changed significantly.
Grassroots football dying of poverty as Premier League rakes in billions
14 February 2015
Mirror: When amateur players turn out on the sloping pitches at Stanley Park, they are just yards from the grounds of Premier League giants Liverpool and Everton. But their facilities are a million miles from the luxury enjoyed by neighbours like Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Everton’s Ross Barkley, a Sunday People investigation has revealed.
2015 Football v Homophobia campaign launches in Manchester
2 February 2015
Pink News: The 2015 Football v Homophobia campaign has launched in Manchester, at the National Football Museum. Launching yesterday, a number of clubs from up and down the UK – from Premier League teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City – to others like Dulwich Hamlet and Tonbridge Angels – offered their support.
FvH calls on football fans to help address LGBT-phobia at conference in Manchester
7 January 2015
Farenet: Football v Homophobia (FvH), an international campaign opposing LGBT discrimination in football, is calling on football supporters to join its conference on 15 February at the National Football Museum in Manchester and help address the problem in the game.
High school soccer star comes out as gay in rural West Virginia by dancing with Homecoming King to Taylor Swift's 'Love Story'
22 December 2014
Daily Mail: Michael Martin has been known to his high school friends as a star goalie, a gifted swimmer and an avid nature lover, but there was one thing he had been keeping them in the dark about: he was gay. All that changed during a school dance earlier this year when the Musselman High School senior invited another young man to a slow dance.
Liverpool FC 'cursed by God for supporting gay pride' says far right politician Paul Rimmer
18 December 2014
Liverpool Echo: English Democrat and former UKIP candidate Paul Rimmer condemned for making alleged homophobic comments on Facebook, in which he suggested the Reds' indifferent form was down to the club 'promoting' homosexuality
Robbie Rogers on being a gay man in football
18 December 2014
TalkSport: Often seen as a taboo subject within sport, MLS star Robbie Rogers took the brave step in 2013 to come out as a gay man – the former Leeds United star became only the second player after John Fashanu to make the announcement and the first in American sport to do so.
Why is being gay still an issue in the sports world?
2 December 2014
Flux: For a footballer who represented his country on 52 occasions, including appearances in two major international tournaments, and played for Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Lazio, West Ham, Wolfsburg and Everton, Thomas Hitzlsperger’s profile remained relatively modest until January of this year.
Sir Ian McKellen: Roy Hodgson is not living in the real world. 500 footballers in this country and not one of them out?
2 November 2014
The Independent: Ian McKellen believes that England manager Roy Hodgson is not living in the real world and that he's too absorbed in his own world, and clearly it's a world in which to be gay is not an easy thing.
Roy Hodgson says he has never encountered gay issues in football
23 October 2014
The Guardian: Roy Hodgson has admitted he is “naive” over gay rights in football and has never had to deal with a player who is considering coming out. But the England manager insists there is less of a taboo over the issue in sport these days and as proof points to the example of Gareth Thomas, the Welsh rugby international, who earned praise for revealing his sexuality.
Liberal Democrats conference: Reclaiming the People's Game
7 October 2014
Liberal Democrats conference motion: This motion creates new policies to strengthen democracy, equality and representation within the governance of football, improve football administration and reform football finances. In particular it proposes to make homophobic chanting a criminal offence, on a par with racist chanting, strengthen the ‘fit and proper person’ rule, and divert a contribution from TV revenues to support the grassroots of the game.
FA encourages all fans and players to report homophobia
6 October 2014
Pink News: The FA has put out a statement reminding all fans and players to report homophobia as and when it happens. Earlier this year The FA launched four films, which can be viewed on The FA.com, that show step by step how to report abuse seen or heard.
Ad of the Week: Paddy Power Rainbow Laces Metro Edition
12 September 2014
Creative Review: On Monday, the Metro newspaper dedicated its entire issue to supporting the Paddy Power/Stonewall Rainbow Laces campaign, which aims to tackle homophobia in football. As well as running a Rainbow Laces graphic across every page, the issue saw brands including Premier Inn, Google, and Smirnoff create special ads. The campaign is our Ad of the Week.
Irvine Welsh: The English exported homosexuality to Scotland in the 1990s in an attempt to undermine our march to freedom
10 September 2014
PaddyPower: The best-selling author of Trainspotting, Filth, Ecstasy and Porno writes exclusively for the Paddy Power Blog with tales of vicious terrace homophobia and growing up in Scotland when nobody was gay, but mustachioed men still loved wearing skirts...
Rainbow Laces: Village Manchester squad tackle homophobia and encourage gay footballers to 'come out'
10 September 2014
Mancunian Matters: The city’s gay football team Village Manchester are putting their best foot forward and backing the national Rainbow Laces campaign, to encourage more people in the game to come out as gay.
Brands get behind campaign to support gay footballers
8 September 2014
Marketing Week: Brands including Premier Inn, BT Sport and Starbucks are running ads in today’s (8 September) Metro newspaper to show their support for the “Rainbow Laces” campaign, which aims to tackle homophobia in football by getting professional footballers to wear rainbow-coloured laces in their boots.
Arsenal stars feature in Rainbow Laces advertising campaign
5 September 2014
Daily Mail: Arsenal’s stars were willing to poke fun at themselves in a hilarious new advert.Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud were among the all-star cast to team up with Stonewall – a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity in the UK – to help tackle homophobia in football.
#RainbowLaces: Change the Game video
5 September 2014
Arsenal FC: We've teamed up with Paddy Power, Arsenal, The Gay Football Supporters Network and loads more to send Rainbow Laces to every professional football player and club in Britain. We're asking players to wear the laces during the weekend of 13/14 September to show their support for kicking homophobia out of the beautiful game.
Kick it Out's Paul Mortimer criticises LMA for brushing off discrimination as 'banter'
23 August 2014
Sky Sports: Kick It Out's Paul Mortimer has criticised the League Managers Association for using the word ‘banter’ to describe discriminatory messages exchanged between former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay and his head of recruitment Iain Moody.
Justin Fashanu — The First Openly Homosexual Professional Footballer
8 August 2014
thehardtackle.com: The story of Justin Fashanu is a tragic one. As his rise was meteoric, his fall was astounding. From being professional football’s first £1 million black player to being driven to commit suicide. How did it all come to that?
Barrister vows to fight against homophobia in football
27 June 2014
Birmingham Post: Tariq Sadiq, a practising barrister for 20 years at St Philips Chambers, will lead the FA's anti-discrimination panel, created in the wake of the high-profile racism cases involving the likes of Luis Suarez and John Terry
Unity Cup tournament decided on penalties
19 June 2014
Cardiff City Supporters' Club: A penalty shoot-out decided an 11-a-side LGBT tournament supported by the Trust as part of Cardiff’s Year as European Capital of Sport. Former Trust board member John Isaacson presented the trophy to the winners, Village Manchester FC.
Top 50 Hottest World Cup Players (All-Nations Edition)
15 June 2014
Swoonworthy.net: Consider this Top 50 Hottest World Cup Players list your ultimate guide to the sexiest guys of Brazil 2014. We make that claim with real authority, because we just spent countless hours poring over photos of each and every one of the tournament’s 736 players.
F.A. Centre to host cup final of world’s largest LGBT Football League
28 May 2014
GScene: This Saturday, May 31, the Gay Football Supporters Network (GFSN), national cup final will be held at the English FA’s state-of-the-art training facility in St. George’s Park near Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire.
An assessment of the current 'state of play' in regards to homophobia in English football
14 May 2014
University of London: The global always incorporates the domestic within its scope, and in turning our attention to the contentious issue of homophobia in English football we hope to contribute to the debate on ways to tackle discrimination and promote inclusion in sport in the UK and further afield.
Nigel Owens: I came out as gay but there are still many in rugby and football who don't feel able to do the same
19 April 2014
Daily Mail: Sixteen years ago, Nigel Owens, now widely regarded as the best rugby union referee in the world, lay on a windswept mountainside high above Carmarthenshire’s Loughor Estuary with his life ebbing away.
Colin Kazim-Richards guilty of homophobic gesture at Brighton fans
9 April 2014
The Guardian: The former Premier League footballer Colin Kazim-Richards was found guilty in a landmark case on Wednesday of making an "utterly disgusting" homophobic gesture at Brighton and Hove Albion fans during a football match last year.
Section of Allianz closed off for United clash after Bayern's 'Gay Gunners' banner
9 April 2014
Daily Mail: One section of the Allianz Arena was shut off for Bayern Munich's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Manchester United on Wednesday night. UEFA took the decision to close off a section after Bayern supporters unfurled a homophobic banner during the last-16 tie against Arsenal.
Former Blackburn footballer 'made homophobic gesture'
9 April 2014
ITV Granada: Former Blackburn Rovers footballer Colin Kazim-Richards mimicked pulling his shorts down, put his left arm behind his bottom and made a homophobic gesture towards the crowd while playing against one of his previous clubs, a court has heard.
Irish Gaelic football captain thanks players' boyfriends after championship win
19 March 2014
Outsports: Ger Brennan is the captain of Dublin's St Vincent's in the Gaelic football league. His team had just defeated Castlebar Mitchels in the All-Ireland Club Championship on St Patrick's Day and he gave a speech to the fans:
Why do we need a gay Premier League footballer?
11 March 2014
The Telegraph: Despite a number of sportsmen coming out recently, there are still no openly gay men currently playing in the Premier League. But would a gay top-flight footballer really show that the culture of the game is changing, asks Theo Merz
Where are all the gay football players?
6 March 2014
cafebabel.co.uk: Thomas Hitzlsperger recently became the first Premier League football player to come out as gay. But he only did so after retiring, and there are currently no openly gay pro football players. But why is this the case? I went digging around to find out more
Barry Ferguson: Gay players shouldn't wait until their careers are over to come out
10 January 2014
Daily Record: BARRY FERGUSON insists gay footballers shouldn't have to hide their sexuality from team mates in this day and age following the decision by ex-Germany star Thomas Hitzlsperger to come out just months after retiring.