Russell Tovey: Are Any Footballers Gay?

LOL!

Football: Vile

An old tweet from the Burnley striker, Andre Gray, unearthed today.

Update: He's so, so sorry. 

But can you forgive her?*

The author, Lee Williscroft-Ferris, has written some pretty good non-hysterical gay stuff for Independent Voices. Some stuff I'm not so keen on, but if you agreed with everything someone says, you're almost certainly a cult member.

Football: Balls

BIG Brother contestant Ryan Ruckledge has claimed he had gay sex with a Premier League footballer.

Daily Star.

Love that online tease by the Star.

Think this story can be filed under 'bollocks'.

Tweet Of The Day: Liam Gallagher

Russian hooligans skintight shorts bumbags batty boy muscles ha ha I'd be more worried bout getting me arse pinched LG X

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 15, 2016

Update: Astonishingly both Gay Star News and Pink News tried to make a connection between this childish tweet and the Orlando massacre!

And here's the politically inane Patrick Strudwick on LGBT Buzzfeed earlier; 'Days after the Orlando massacre, Attitude magazine is publishing a historic interview and photo shoot with the future king...'

Eh?

Do we have to bring the Orlando massacre into everything now?

Gay Star News.

Fashanu: Keep It In The Family

John Fashanu has shamefully revealed how he responded to his brother becoming the first British football star to come out as gay – by paying him £75,000 to keep quiet.

The former Wimbledon striker made the shock admission a week after it emerged two top footballers – including an England star – plan to come out.

In his first in-depth interview about brother Justin since his tragic suicide in 1998, he said: “I begged him, I threatened him, I did everything I could possibly do to try and stop him coming out.

“I gave him the money because I didn’t want the embarrassment for me or my family. Had he come out now, it would be a different ball game.

“There wouldn’t be an issue, but there was then. Things are different now. Now he’d be hailed a hero.”

John, 53, said: “I’ll never forget when Justin first told me. He called me in the evening time and said to me: ‘I’m gay’.

"Then he said to me: ‘I’m planning to go to a newspaper’. I said to him: ‘Oh heavens forbid... oh my God. We don’t need that. You’re mad’.

“He promised when I gave him the money he would not go out and say that. Two days later... bang... headlines in a newspaper. I looked like a sucker.

“For me and my family it was like Hiroshima or Nagasaki on our lives. It knocked us dead, it was a total shock.

“People might not like it, but I was trying to protect my family.

“You’ve got to remember the public’s perception of homosexuality at that time was that it was an abomination . It was taboo. Street boys were beating up gays in nightclubs.

“I give him credit for having the courage to come out and say it. But it caused a lot of confusion and animosity towards him, me, and my family.

“During matches, 30, 40, sometimes 45,000 supporters sang at me: ‘You’re big... you’re black... your a*** is up for grabs... Fashanu... Fashanu’.

“As a result of him saying what he said, my mother died because of the stress. She actually died a year later on the day of his birthday.

"She was already old, very fragile and suffering cancer.

“Then to be told her second eldest son was a homosexual was too much.”

The Gladiators presenter said of the two football stars preparing to come out as gay , which the Daily Mirror revealed last week: “If these young men feel it is the right time to come out and announce they are homosexual, please don’t anybody victimise them.

“Please be careful with words, don’t let it lead to the destruction of two men in their prime. I didn’t have that wisdom 20 years ago and it led to the destruction of my late brother Justin.

“We must accept them. I beg everybody not to make the same mistakes I made. Give them as much understanding as possible.”

Mirror.
 

Not sure what to say about this story, apart from stating the obvious; it's completely grim.

John has made the hush-money claim before, in the Independent in 2011.

See also My brother Justin WASN'T gay he just wanted attention, says John Fashanu, the Mirror, March 2012.

But his assertion that Justin invented stories for money is true.

His tabloid tryst was a Faustian pact.

In 1998, a then debt-ridden Justin was paid handsomely by The Sun for his coming out story - involving an unnamed Tory MP - though years later he admitted it was made-up to up the fee.

He'd previously tried to sue The Sunday People, the Mirror's sister paper, after they ran a front page story; 'I am not gay'.

He later sold a story claiming an affair with Julie Goodyear, who played Bette Lynch in Coronation Street, and a lesbian.

In 1994 he tried to sell the People yet more stories about 'romps' with Conservative MPs, but after being questioned by police, he admitted these were fictions

Hmm...

One wonders if John was paid for this?

Loving the supercool pay-off line; 'John, who still believes his brother was not actually gay, is a practising Christian.'

Oh, and though the Mirror hook this story on their front page last week about two premier league footballers coming out, they leave that there.

PS There's an excellent essay by Juliet Jacques, Justin Fashanu And The Politics Of Memory, on the myths that have evolved about his life and death.

Gay Footballers: Place Your Bets

Here's the full list.

Not sure about the ethics of this, tbh...

PS The Telegraph asks; 'Is there no depths to which bookmakers will not sink to gain some cheap publicity?' 

And, hilariously, won't name the players, or even the 'bookmakers'!

Thierry Henry: OK, Bye Now

Thierry Henry Backs Players Coming Out As Gay

The Arsenal legend says he wouldn't have any problem playing alongside a gay teammate and would treat them like everyone else.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says it should be "OK by now" for gay footballers to feel comfortable being open about their sexuality.

Speaking on Sky News, Henry said: "We’re living in a different time, a different world, and people should accept that."  ...

Henry, who is a Sky Academy ambassador, said he would have no problems playing alongside a team who was gay.

"It’s not a problem, we’re ultimately there to do a job. Whatever you believe in, whatever you do," he said.

"If I was in a dressing room, that guy would still have been my teammate and I would still give him the ball, and I would still see him the same way, still go out with him.

"We're all human beings at the end of the day, so it doesn't really bother me." ...

Sky News.

You'd pass the ball to a gayer!!!

How fantastically magnanimous of you, Thierry!

Well done.

PS Clearly gay wasn't quite so OK when TH sneered at faggotry in his Va Va Voom ad for Renault.

Football: Shaw Thing

But why did you have to clarify? And why is it headline news that two footballers are gay? Blah blah blah... Role models are important... To have two openly gay footballers in the Premier League would send a powerful message.... Blah blah blah...

Ruth Hunt, head honcho at Stonewall, Independent Voices.

If loads of people are tweeting that he's gay, what's wrong with him gently pointing out that he's not?

With a peace sign and a smiley face!

The article ends with a plug for Stonewall's 'campaign to combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport'. 

'Over the last two years we’ve sent a pair of Rainbow Laces to every professional footballer in the country and encouraged them to lace up and tackle the problem once and for all.'

Take that homophobia in sport!

Ah well, at least she didn't say 'IT'S THE LAST TABOO!!!'

PS 'My only concern is that this doesn’t cause a bit of a witch-hunt. On social media, people are already starting to guess who they think it is. 

'I can’t help but feel this is testing the water to see what the media and public reaction is to this story, which may inform the players whether or not they think coming out is a good idea at this time.' 

Ed Connell, chair of GFSN [Gay Football Supporters Network], quoted in The Telegraph.

Yup.

Tweet Of The Day: Luke Shaw

@UnitedStandMUFC it's not me ✌🏼 so everyone can shut up now 😀

— Luke Shaw (@LukeShaw23) October 24, 2015

Phew!

'And on that bombshell...' Daily Star.

Soccerball News: 2 Prem Stars

All together; 'Why should this even be news, it's 2015, who cares?' etc etc.

DM me for their non-existent names.

Reemember Max Clifford claiming he was handling 'two high-profile gay Premier League footballers' in 2009?

Or maybe you recall The news Of The World's 2006 story 'Gay Footie Stars Named On The Net' - and their subsequent grovelling apology to Ashley Cole?

Or the 2008 claim that 12 Premiership footballers were gay?

Zzzz...

PS Those other laeding sportsmen who've come out in full, Mirror.

Sepp Blatter: A Joke

When he said this about gay fans going to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: "I'd say they should refrain from any sexual activities", it was clearly a joke (as you can see in this video).

That's why he said 'Seriously...' after, and then spoke out against all discrimination, and how he hoped to overcome it.

Get over it and stop imagining homophobia where it doesn't exist.

PS If you're concerned about human rights abuses, why not ban Israel from the World Cup?

PPS Ban jokes!

Fanny & Stella: Unforgotten

A new play by Taggart writer Glenn Chandler charts the forgotten story of two cross-dressers and a notorious 1870s court case..
The Observer.

This is the 'forgotten story' that was the subject of Neil McKenna's book, Fanny & Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England, published by Faber in 2013.

It was widely reviewed, The Guardian published a lengthy and thoughtful one by Kathryn Hughes, complete with an online photo gallery.

It's the first thing that comes up if you Google 'Fanny Stella' - hard to believe even this was beyond the journalist.

PS The Observer also has an article about homophobia in sport!!! SNORE!

The Gays Vs The Footyball: Snore!

As ever, I look forward to not reading this article later...

PS More gay soccer balls from Robbie Rogers in GQ. Zzzz...

Homophobia In Football: Case Closed

Well there you go - thanks for that.

Not sure how they'd know you're gay though.

Do you go round matches doing bumming?

PS Number of days since the Independent last published an article about homophobia and football: 5 (five) - which was published 11 (eleven) days after the one before that.

One trusts their readers share the Indy's fascination with this subject.

Update: The Indy's next article about homophobia and football - a feature on Robbie Rogers - appeared 3 (three) days later.

Back of the net!

Fagburn: Catch-Up

Regular viewers may know Fagburn is currently spending his weekends away, smuggling AK-47s to the brave anti-fascist freedom fighters in east Ukraine.

So sometimes, at best, all you may get up is a round-up of the most THRILLING news.

So here is a piece in The Independent that ticked all my boxes.

1. It's written by that leading gay intellectual of our age, Patrick Strudwick! See also Patrick's groundbreaking article; 'It is time for my bedroom curtains to stop being homophobic!'
#stoptthegayhatecurtains *

2. It's about Ian McKellen - of hilarious ITV gay sitcom, Vicious, fame! He is like super old and was in Lord Of The Rings, so whatever he says goes.

3. They talk about THEGAYSINSPORT! - always makes for an interesting article that. Is it the last taboo? etc etc.

4. They plug that calendar by those rather plain, but pukingly posh boys from the NAKEDWARWICKROWINGCLUB! But they love The Gays! Phwoar.

5. Gareth Thomas! Yay! He played rugby and now he gay! ibid. And he man! Not like the rubbish gay gays. Exciting times!

6. The bible. Always worth discussing what this holy book has to say about bumming, or indeed about anything, really. Historical facts? Rational thought? Meh. Fagburn will now consult his pet monkey spinning on an ouija board to see what he thinks.

Night.
x

* Strudwick - an expert on gay politics - writes of the 'near comically villainous [sic] Section 28, gagging teachers from discussing homosexuality'. Err, it didn't, dear.

Football: You Boys Play Nice Now!

FA Cup winners Arsenal, Paddy Power, Stonewall and the Gay Football Supporters' Network have again teamed up to help tackle one of the toughest challenges in sport: homophobia in football.

Erm, not sure I get what this is saying.

'Be nice to the poofs, lads, cause - although being a bummer is a bit of a bummer, like being short or looking like a Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle - they can't help it, and they can't change.'

Still, great stuff guys; cause there's nothing so fucking fantastic as when a real man - an actual soccerball star no less! - says he quite likes the gays.

#sobrave

Good slaves are so grateful for just a smile from our masters.

PS The sports aren't Fagburn's strong point, but I think there are 28 players in the Arsenal squad. Are we to assume the other 23 are okay with homophobia?

Pink News - this patronising drivel is an actual article, and not a piss-take!

Oh Gloria, wait til Fagburn unveils his 'Wear Your Rainbow Loom Band With Pride!' campaign - it's gonna make homophobia disappear 4 EVAH!

Tweet Of The Day: Banter

I hope everyone in the world poos themselves to death and the moon gets AIDS and Jesus gets fucked by a horse. #banter
— Noun (@ncguk) August 22, 2014

Am I alone in not caring much about this story?
Footyball bloke is a bigoted prick shock!

Football: The Beautiful Game

Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. 

At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe — at any rate for short periods — that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.

There cannot be much doubt that the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism — that is, with the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige.

I do not, of course, suggest that sport is one of the main causes of international rivalry; big-scale sport is itself, I think, merely another effect of the causes that have produced nationalism. Still, you do make things worse by sending forth a team of eleven men, labelled as national champions, to do battle against some rival team, and allowing it to be felt on all sides that whichever nation is defeated will “lose face”.

There are quite enough real causes of trouble already, and we need not add to them by encouraging young men to kick each other on the shins amid the roars of infuriated spectators.

George Orwell, The Sporting Spirit, 1945.

When I see a gay bar saying that they are showing World Cup matches a part of me dies.

Satan made us queer for a reason, you know.

A gay football fan should be an oxymoron.

Such men are traitors, quislings.

Come the revolution they will be taken out and shot.

I hope England lose, terribly.

#TeamIran for the win!



From Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the media.

The Sun: This Is Their England

This is even more hideous when you can see who's on it - allegedly picked by Sun readers, here they are in their full glory.

I count eight (8) black people.*

Token Asian: Noreen Khan.

The Sun's favoured English pooves - for those among you taking notes: Grimmers, Dame Stephen Fry, Sir David Attenborough, Sir Elton, Sebastian Coe, Tinky Winky, our Tom, Lewis Hamilton, Yog, Mozza (tellingly positioned next to Nigel Farage).

Token lez: Clare Balding.

UND! SUN columnists Tony Parsons, Jeremy Clarkson, Katie Hopkins, Jane Moore and Rod Liddle tell [sic] why they’re proud of England.
Oh FFS. Another hundred reasons to defect to Cuba.

PS There is a 'campaign' to send copies of this back via a freepost address. Apparently these will just pile up in the sorting office. I imagine putting a sign on your front door saying you refuse to take one will be similarly annoying to postal workers. So don't be a priggish dick, please.

* Oops! An eagle-eyed fan tells me there are 15/16, and has once again exposed my pathological contempt for facts.

Meanwhile, Mirror Online makes a pitch (geddit?) for the gals and teh gays...

Welcome to the Mirror's World Cup Football Free Zone! Sexy players, wags, hot gossip - minus the actual FOOTBALL http://t.co/GJba09sNif
— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) June 12, 2014

Hope you're looking forward to a month (!) of this...

This is funny...

The Independent.

Can someone tell the joyless gaytards at Gay Star News, if they're going to try and do a BuzzFeed-style item it helps not to be completely witless.

Oh do piss off.

Gay Footballer: Anonymous/Nonesuch

An anonymous German footballer has spoken about his decision not to reveal his sexuality publicly after teammates refused to shower naked with him once they found out he was gay.

The player, under the pseudonym Nico, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle about how teammates used to wear underwear in the showers if he was present.

In the interview Nico said: “By chance the team I was in found out that I was gay.

“After a training session I walked into the shower and I realised all of my teammates weren't naked, but were wearing underpants. Of course I was totally shocked,

“At first I didn’t know why, but then I realised it was because of me.”

The Independent. 

Can't see any reason to think this may be completely made up, no sirree.

One wonders if this anonymous footballer knows the anonymous Royal Ballet dancers?

An early winner for this year's Fagburn Award For The Most Hopeless Illustration For A Gay Story here.

Und! Here's the original Deutsch Well interview with 'the homosexual youth player'.