Is the last bastion of English toxic masculinity about to come crashing down? With the latest with what’s happening over there we can but hope!
The news I’m referring to is that the 17 year old player Jake Daniels, for Blackpool, has come out!!!
To understand the significance of this we must look at the history of the EPL et al and it can be summed up in two key facts which neatly tie into one another.
Daniels is the first player to come out in over 30 years (32 in fact)
The last player who DID come out- Justin Fashanu- didn’t have a good ending.
A warning- with providing the history is some VERY tragic details so feel free to skip the rest of this post if you so wish.
Fashanu, after coming out, was needlessly and relentlessly handed by both the media and his own brother in the media that he eventually took his own life at the age of 37.
A tragic ending to what by all accounts was a gifted footballer, it perhaps encapsulates why there has been no major player in the EPL who has come out since then- over the course of the last five ish years or so I can remember reading about how an anonymous player was on the verge of coming out, but alas nothing ever happened.
Instead, we have seen fringe players come out and even then usually towards the twilight of their careers - prime example being Robbie Rogers. And this is seen in a lot of sports- the tough as fuck Gareth Roberts didn’t come out untill after he retired, but he’s since been quite open about himself despite some less then ideal behaviour by the tabloids (to the surprise of no one it must be said).
Anyhoo, there’s a brilliant BBC podcast (The LGBT Sport Podcast) that I listen to which as you can imagine has been in overdrive with the news- the host Jack Murley has been doing the rounds in the UK with his thoughts.
It’s interesting how he says that this time it just feels different and I suppose so- in theory a lot has changed in the last 30 years. But again despite the prevalence of rainbow supporter groups and initiatives such as rainbow laces, I still have questions.
Logically and statistically speaking, Daniels can’t/isn’t the only gay in the village. So what is happening/preventing the others from coming out?
Hyper toxic masculinity.
Let us be straight if you pardon the pun. Coming out is something only the person themselves can/should do- it’s an intensely private and emotional thing and no one has the right to take it away from you. Yet it still happens and is a frequent trope used in media because it still happens as much as we don’t want it to be.
If you’re in an environment where the boys club runs rampant (and by all accounts in football and a lot of sports it does), why would you come out when you hear jokes like “backs to the walls boys” and it’s all supposed to be taken in good faith as a bit of banter with the lads?
You wouldn’t.
Society is changing- no doubt about that- but there’s still the mentality at least in sports of hyper toxic masculinity. Everyone knows that I love my AFL but where is the gay AFL player? I’ve heard rumours like anyone else but again I refer back to the fact of hyper toxic masculinity.
(On a side note when I say hyper toxic masculinity I mean it in both senses ie- the traditional toxic masculinity being so prevalent, as well as the fact it’s so bloody strong!).
It’s such a strong thing that how does one eradicate it? I mean for fuck sake there’s hate towards the trans community from within the gay community so you can sure as shit bet your money that it’s fucked up!
I guess what I’m trying to say is there’s still more room for improvement. Let’s celebrate people like Jake Daniels and Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo for being their true selves and in the words of the amazing Captain Raymond Holt from Brooklyn Nine Nine
Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place