[Closed] Tom Daly

I look forward to the day that this is not "news" and when someone's sexuality is simply not a topic that raises discussion. Good luck to him, no surprise surely - wonder if the comments, "but I still fancy girls" was necessary?

In this day and age, someone's sexual persuasion should be of no interest or relevance to anyone except the person concerned.

wonder if the comments, "but I still fancy girls" was necessary?

Because he's bisexual?

Possibly DD, but I also wonder if he was "advised" (sic) to say that for other reasons?

Good luck to him, no surprise surely - wonder if the comments, "but I still fancy girls" was necessary?

Probably doesn't want to lose the fan base of adoring girls he has built up?

[i]I look forward to the day that this is not "news" [/i]

Yeah, I read the post and thought 'Oh, so what'.

Trouble is, to those freaks who read Heat, Take A Break, OK!, Gracia etc etc this is NEWS!!!

Is it news?

I wonder what the DM's headlines will be in the morning 😆

It constantly surprises me that this sort of thing is still news. I don't care about his sexuality or whether he wants to share that part of his life with the general public. He can be gay or straight open or private he'd still be an exceptionally talented athlete wasting his time hosting a crap TV show.

Be on the Friday "Athletic & Aesthetic" thread this week, then. 😉

It's not news and why should it be. I think it's just to get the ball rolling again with promoting his dire TV show Splash.

I didn't know he wasn't out until I read this thread. I expect the "still fany girls" thing is to "keep selling calendars and other merchandise to girls"

The Premier league could really do with some openly gay players.

Its one of those its shame he feels he has to say something but good that no one really cares

Good for him. Not "newsworthy", but perfectly understandable to make a statement.

And the barrage of supportive comments are presumably somewhat helpful to plenty of young gay guys who haven't quite got around to coming out and are worried about it. 🙂

[i]The Premier league could really do with some openly gay players. [/i]

If only there were some footballers who spent huge amounts of time grooming themselves and driving about in open top sports cars.

edit: And jumping into big baths with loads of other blokes.

The Daily Mail is perfectly supportive.

A small number of BTL commentators are going with craigxxl's rather cynical suggestion that it's simply a form of attention-seeking, and a few others that he should be doing more diving and less bumming so as to get gold at Rio. But most people either don't care or are rather sweet. 🙂

I'm not really a follower on these things but yes I did think it was common knowledge that he's gay. As for who cares - well I guess lots of young ladies are now feeling disappointed - and lots of young men quite pleased.

I might as well come out and say that I am a ______sexual user of STW. Because you all wanted to know that, didn't you?

It isn't really "news" news but from my own experience it was really really important that successful and popular young people came out and openly defined themselves as gay. its a massive help if people like him can do this with support and confidence, cos unlike you lot, there are loads of people who are more than happy to bully or take the mick of gay people.

I think a openly gay footballer would be an amazing thing!!

teamhurtmore - Member

wonder if the comments, "but I still fancy girls" was necessary?

If he still wants to shag girls then yes, probably a good idea to make sure they don't all think he's strictly Men Only 😉

emsz - Member

I think a openly gay footballer would be an amazing thing!!

The precedent isn't great...

Indeed it shames the game.
There are a couple of openly gay players - an american one - played at leeds and a Scandinavian guy and no doubt some more.

I think the terrace abuse is the issue - look at what black players had to go through FFS - and why would you choose that amount of grief?
I doubt they are ashamed but I suspect the abuse would be shocking and at illegal levels...who knows though perhaps they would surprise us all?

I imagine there is an open secret amongst players though as they are fairly metrosexual these days

If he still wants to shag girls then yes, probably a good idea to make sure they don't all think he's strictly Men Only

Good point - I do think that its a bit silly that we still insist on pigeonholing people into the 100% gay/100% straight boxes.

I mean, its not as if Tom being in the closet was the biggest secret since Narnia, but perhaps most of us are a bit pansexual at heart

The Premier league could really do with some openly gay players.

What if its just that gay blokes have got better things to be doing with their time than playing football? 😉

Agree it's really not newsworthy, so howcome there's 22 posts and 19 people dicussing it on here? (23/20 now, and I'm obviously a big hippocrite!)

perhaps most of us are a bit pansexual at heart

Research would say 10 % ish so no where near most of us. There seems to be more lesbians than gay men currently- or more females having a lesbian experience at some point than men having a homosexual one.

Its on BBC 1 1 pm news FFS its not really news is it?
Ie we all knew and no one cares

One of my mates is trysexual. He reckons he's game for trying absolutely anything!

football audiences are only a microcosm of society in general. if the real reason for players not coming out is the fear of terrace abuse then i'd suggest that deep down, when anonymity is available, a higher percentage of society remain homophobic than we'd like to think.

One of my mates is trysexual. He reckons he's game for trying absolutely anything!

You just had to mention whora,didn't you?
🙂

trail monkey the EDL grew out of the football terraces. It is not the most enlightened aspect of humanity and i say this as some one who loves football and has spent years on them.

jy, i think you ought to re read the opening line of my post.

as a former season ticket holder and home and away game follower, my opinion is that football crowds merely reflect society in general. if they're not enlightened then neither is society.

It'll always be newsworthy so long as people don't feel that they can be open about it in the first place. Until that changes, as wrong as it is, it will be news when someone comes out.

I thought he came out a while ago ? Perhaps not. I'll watch the film statement sometime when I get the chance. For me it's a non-issue, best of luck to him.

@trailmonkey - I don't think football crowds reflect society in general, I'm quite happy about that.

This sort of thing is usually made into news by the person in question spending years denying it. As Tom Daley did.

Why should he even have to say his sexuality? Well done Tom but why is it anyones business either way.

I'm straight everybody. Hora is straight. WHY would anyone have to say it. **** em Tom, you've wrong-footed the media 😀

I don't think football crowds reflect society in general,

Why not?

I take it that you rarely, if ever, attend a match so how would you know?

trailmonkey seems to be in a much better position to comment.

Tom Daley coming out is "news" because he is a former World Champion athlete who has a bit of a "sex symbol" image. Personally I don't really care what he does with who but a lot of the people do.

This sort of thing is usually made into news by the person in question spending years denying it. As Tom Daley did.

Maybe he didn't realise he was gay (though the rest of us did), and he's just coming to terms with it. The fact that he's still going for half rice/half chips, would suggest that

Good luck to him. It must be a very difficult thing to deal with, without doing it in the media spotlight

It [I]shouldn't[/I] be news, but it is, we're not really that grown up yet (Collectively, as a society) that we can ignore sexual preferences. coming out is still a brave thing to do, and probably wasn't that easy for him, no doubt there will be some bullshit for him to contend with from the "Twittersphere".

Then again part of me thinks athletes should remain [I]'Just'[/I] athletes until they retire, then they can pursue a Media career, sticking oneself in the spotlight, courting publicity, hosting crap TV shows, none of that can actually be any good for your day job can it...

I wonder what the DM's headlines will be in the morning

Well there's a world of possibilities, I'd be shocked if at least one tabloid didn't manage to work [I]"Tom Gayley"[/I] into their coverage.

I expect the DM will be asking the important and insightful Questions like [I]"Can exposure to chlorine or wearing really tight speedo's make you Gay?"[/I]...

I think a openly gay footballer would be an amazing thing!!

I think you're giving the Press, followers and players of "The Beautiful Game" more credit that they really deserve there, it's still a pretty homophobic culture, whatever some might claim, coming out would more than likely mean the effective end of a player's career...
Coming out once retired from playing? Maybe but that could equally damage any coaching or punditry aspirations they might have...

It's not so simple as a brave first few taking a bold step and proving it's all good, any Gay current players will no doubt look at Justin Fashanu's fate, and just keep their sexuality under wraps...

I think a better statement would be;

[I]Living in a world where an openly Gay footballer was not a big deal for anyone, would be an amazing thing!! [/I]

[quote=gwj72 ]This sort of thing is usually made into news by the person in question spending years denying it. As Tom Daley did.

I thought he merely did not answer but why should he have to?
Why do I need to know the sexuality of any athlete?

TM a microcosm is meant to be reflective /encapsulates in miniature widely held beliefs; my argument is it does not.

You tend to attract morons to football sadly and it has a long tradition of violence, racism and homophobia.

I speak in general terms of course not all fans are like that.

Why should he even have to say his sexuality? Well done Tom but why is it anyones business either way.

It's no one's business, just as me liking scifi films is no one else's business but I've never felt the need or desire to keep it to myself.

The point is that while there's no reason that he or anyone else should be compelled to tell everyone, there's still cultural reasons why the question even comes up. So long as there's a reason to keep it quiet then it'll always be news.

Aye being young, having to be pressured/stressed to compete at the highest level, be confused AND worry what your family might think or strangers. Well done. I bet he feels alot of pressure lifted.

He doesn't have to say anything. He chooses to speak to the media because he gets paid shit loads of money for it - and likes to appeal to as bigger fan base as possible.

No doubt some other story is lurking that was going to out him so he's made the first move, given he was adamant just 3 months ago that he was not gay.

Personally couldn't give a hoot, just wish the "News" was actually newsworthy. I bet this guy feels like a dick though..

[url= http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/11/tom-daley-not-gay-reset-the-gaydar ]http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/11/tom-daley-not-gay-reset-the-gaydar[/url]

[quote=emsz]It isn't really "news" news but from my own experience it was really really important that successful and popular young people came out and openly defined themselves as gay.

Did he openly define himself as gay though? It seemed like a 50% sort of thing from the video; "I'm with a bloke now and it's changed my life... but I still like the ladies". Whilst the subtext is that he's finally found what he has been looking for in a partner, the words are somewhat mixed.

Lots of people are accepting of gay relationships, but loads and loads of people aren't. From family and friends to randoms on the street. I've had everything from abuse to being spat on. It may not feel like a big thing, to you guys reading about Tom, but trust me it feels like it at the time. There was a gay story line in Corrie a while back, it made SUCH a massive difference to how some people spoke to me. You wouldn't believe it, and to have properly famous people in Real Life say, I'm gay deal with it" is a massive help to people, not just guys and girls thinking about it, but everyone. The more it becomes open, there more it won't matter, but were def not there yet!!

I think Christiano Rohnaldo missed a trick really. My Gaydar isn't always the sharpest, but when you looked at him, did you think "Now there's a lad who likes to take a pride in his appearance, and to look after his personal grooming. And the pictures in the paper with the white speedos… well given his carefully manicured physique, what man wouldn't don the white speedos……"

And everyone gave him so much abuse anyway, which he used to thrive on, You'd think he might as well have just got it out in the open and made himself a bigger icon than Kylie

Theres only one man who Ronaldo wants to love and sleep with.

Himself.