And the first openly gay premier league player is…..

I so long for the day that we wake up and realise our hard earned cash is wasted on the premier league and better spent on saving the world.

I think it would be very brave of any top level player to announce they were gay whilst still playing. It should not matter bit sadly it does, particularly in the macho football bubble. Can a gay footballer openly talk in the dressing room about their partner and what they might get up to the way a hetrosexual teammate might? I doubt it. I used to follow football years ago bit don’t anymore for the tribalism that is prevalent. If fans still sing about the deaths of supporters at Hillsborough or a plane crash wiping out a top team, then an openly gay footballer will appear to be fair game for abuse from the stands. I salute anyone that ‘comes out’ in that environment.
Scenes at the recent Scottish Cup final and Euro 2016 IMO show football has a long way to go to be brought into the 21st century.

A lot of effort is being taken by (certainly the Football league) to tackle homophobia. Some close relatives are match day stewards for a more boisterous Championship club, and they have to take a no-nonsense approach when playing Brighton HA, all incidents of homophobic abuse have to be reported to the police and there have been convictions in recent years.
Unfortunately, clubs can’t pick their fans and some will see it as their duty to be the 12th player and do their best to distract the opposition team. I’ve also seen it work and an opposition goalkeeper clapping the home support probably wishing he had such backing. An openly gay footballer would be an easy target, but effectively have a personal security team nowadays.