What do we think the reception would be if a prominent (e.g. starting PL player for a mid-table team) came out as gay?
Personally, I feel that society has progressed enough that they would be applauded, and any homophobic chants from the stands would, for the most part, get shouted down and would quickly become unacceptable - in the same way that if fans were openly chanting racist things to black players, they would get shut down by other fans. I do think there may be some initial issues with away fans who have been on the drink all day, but it would be quite quickly put to bed.
There's always the knuckle-dragging element of course, which will always be present unfortunately - but on the whole, I think it would be seen as a positive and accepted quite quickly.
I do think a significant minority on social media would be predictably horrific, but also a lot of support.
Saying that, I am neither gay nor black - so I may be well off the mark in terms of how far we've come as a society on these issues and how they affect people.
Personally, I feel that society has progressed enough that they would be applauded, and any homophobic chants from the stands would, for the most part, get shouted down and would quickly become unacceptable - in the same way that if fans were openly chanting racist things to black players, they would get shut down by other fans. I do think there may be some initial issues with away fans who have been on the drink all day, but it would be quite quickly put to bed.
There's always the knuckle-dragging element of course, which will always be present unfortunately - but on the whole, I think it would be seen as a positive and accepted quite quickly.
I do think a significant minority on social media would be predictably horrific, but also a lot of support.
Saying that, I am neither gay nor black - so I may be well off the mark in terms of how far we've come as a society on these issues and how they affect people.