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.
Anton knows the English game inside
out.
The 25-year-old was born on
Merseyside, lived in Southport... and his dad Glenn is a former Liverpool captain, who helped the Reds to their
last title triumph under Kenny Dalglish in 1990.
And full-back Anton broke one of
football’s longest-lasting taboos by coming out as gay in an interview with
Swedish football magazine Offside in March 2011.
He won widespread praise for doing so
and he has received very little abuse from either the terraces or opponents
since.
Hysen with his dad, Glenn
That
flies in the face of FA chairman Greg Clarke’s view that gay English
footballers would be “taking a risk” if they followed Hysen’s inspirational
lead.
“If no one has done it, how do you
know England isn’t ready for it?” he said, in an accent more Scouse than
Swedish.
“If no one does it, you can’t speculate.
Just because you see all the negative comments, you don’t know what’s going to
happen.
“It’s insulting to supporters in
England to suggest that they’re not ready to support a gay footballer. The
players who are there to play football will support whoever it is that steps
forward. When I came out, I was excited. I was like, ‘Yes, now I’m going to see
who’s real and who’s not real’.
“I
couldn’t give a s*** about the people who thought less of me.
“I maybe got one or two bits of abuse
from supporters or players I was up against.
“To be honest, any abuse I did get
said far more about the people that said it than me. It just illustrated how
uneducated they were to have such bigoted views.”
Last
weekend, top-flight players wore rainbow laces as part of Stonewall’s Premier
League-backed campaign to tackle homophobia in football. Even the Wembley Arch
was lit up in support.
But, despite the positive steps
English football has taken, the fact is that no gay player has felt confident
enough to come out in the manner of Hysen or former Aston Villa favourite
Thomas Hitzlsperger.
And until that happens, Hysen
believes the English game will not take the ultimate step forward.
Hysen
added: “We had Justin Fashanu a long time ago, but I feel we’ve become a lot
more progressive since then.
“Football has completely changed, but
so has society. It’s the same in Sweden.
“As recently as the 1970s,
homosexuality was considered a disease – it’s not that long ago that gay people
didn’t even feel safe on the streets here.
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