Monday, December 05, 2016

Europe’s first openly-gay footballer hoping a Premier League player comes out as homosexual


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.

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.

Mirror UK.

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