25-year-old player comes out and immediately retires

markesmith

Haven't seen this mentioned yet: Robbie Rogers, Leeds player, comes out as gay and immediately retires at just 25.

Fair play to him, brave decision to come out, but an indictment that he feels he needs to retire having broken the news.

Kristopherus

Already on the Leeds forum and a big thread in After Hours:rolleyes:.

Kristopherus

Kristopherus wrote: »

Already on the Leeds forum and a big thread in After Hours:rolleyes:.

You seem lovely.

In After Hours they'd take the piss and I had absolutely no idea there was a Leeds forums. A Leeds forum? Really?

markesmith

Kristopherus wrote: »

Already on the Leeds forum and a big thread in After Hours:rolleyes:.

kryogen

Didnt he reitre due to his injury problems?

Certainly had his contract mutually terminated because of them

G.K.

Sacramento wrote: »

You seem lovely.

In After Hours they'd take the piss and I had absolutely no idea there was a Leeds forums. A Leeds forum? Really?

He means the Leeds thread.

G.K.

G.K. wrote: »

He means the Leeds thread.

Ah, so can I give him his ":rolleyes:" back? :pac:

Dozen Wicked Words

Rogers football career wasn't going well anyway, loaned to Stevenage and not getting a game there through form and injury, think the writing was on the wall anyway. Good luck to him though, clearly a happier man now he has come out.

Al Capwned

I know any player that would come out would get dogs abuse from opposition fans etc, but I hope as soon as one does it, it would open the floodgates so to speak.

Homosexuality has been largely accepted in general society, and while i realise it would be hard for gay footballers, I firmly believe it has to happen. Bloody long time since Justin Fashanu.

dreamers75

Al Capwned wrote: »

I know any player that would come out would get dogs abuse from opposition fans etc, but I hope as soon as one does it, it would open the floodgates so to speak.

Homosexuality has been largely accepted in general society, and while i realise it would be hard for gay footballers, I firmly believe it has to happen. Bloody long time since Justin Fashanu.

uhh prolly a poor choice seeing as tho football still has an issue with black footballers.

dreamers75

dreamers75 wrote: »

uhh prolly a poor choice seeing as tho football still has an issue with black footballers.

Justin Fashanu was the only openly gay footballer in England afaik

dreamers75

rarnes1 wrote: »

Justin Fashanu was the only openly gay footballer in England afaik

he was but on top of that abuse he got the racist abuse.

Al Capwned

dreamers75 wrote: »

uhh prolly a poor choice seeing as tho football still has an issue with black footballers.

Nothing to do with him being black - he was, afaik, the first and only active player to come out. Twenty three years ago.

I reckon that as soon as the first step is taken, the next step will be easier.
My brother is gay, and while it wasn't too much of a shock when he finally told us, nothing prepared me for the level of ignorance shown by supposedly intelligent people. That was in 1994, and my bro coming out has helped at least one other person in my home town to do the same, and there's maybe more than that, it's just that i know this other fella too. The same thing could possibly happen now in football - i'd support anyone who came out in any case, as would the vast vast majority of right minded people.

Mars Bar

Robbie has come out of retirement and has signed for L.A. Galaxy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/gay-soccer-player-robbie-rogers-150316069--mls.html

CSF

Think he won't get it as bad over there as he would in England, imagine the trip to Milwall.

Mars Bar

I've only just noticed the unintended pun in my post.

dd972

that's a long time on the bench no wonder he called it a day.

leggo

The US is the best place for him to play right now, in terms of abuse, since the Jason Collins coming out in the NBA recently. He's getting a hero's treatment and it's a real hot topic...you'd have to have some balls (and ignorance, but that goes without saying) to start screaming abuse at gay players right now.

~Rebel~

leggo wrote: »

The US is the best place for him to play right now, in terms of abuse, since the Jason Collins coming out in the NBA recently. He's getting a hero's treatment and it's a real hot topic...you'd have to have some balls (and ignorance, but that goes without saying) to start screaming abuse at gay players right now.

Yup, and he couldn't have picked better than Galaxy.

His statement about how easy it's been, and how accepting people are is a bit naive for someone who played in England though, would perhaps have been better for his cause to point out that most of the soccer world still needs to change.

Gbear

I wouldn't begrudge the decision to move abroad of anyone but I do hope someone has the chutzpah to make a stand in Britain.

It'd do wonders if it was at a big premier league club.

Most football fans aren't really that thick, i don't think.
Everyone knows a gay person these days. I'd hope they generally don't abuse them in the street.

So long as they come down hard on homophobia masquerading as "winding players up" from the vocal morons I think acceptance would happen pretty quickly.

leggo

Gbear wrote: »

So long as they come down hard on homophobia masquerading as "winding players up" from the vocal morons I think acceptance would happen pretty quickly.

That's the huge problem, and it's why Italy can't get a handle on racist chanting: fans simply see it as a strategic way to get under players' skins. So it isn't a moral issue to them since they 'mean no harm'. You can't tell fans to stop bantering with opposition teams after all (and why would you? When done tastefully it's part of the process of enjoying sports).

So as long as people feel morally justified, there's very little that can be done to stop isolated incidents aside from long campaigns hoping to educate them on the impact of their abuse. This isn't helped by the reluctance of FIFA, UEFA et al to make harsh blanket rules in case they eventually have to come down hard on bigger clubs. And that's not going away anytime soon because said bigger clubs have the power in that relationship.

~Rebel~

leggo wrote: »

That's the huge problem, and it's why Italy can't get a handle on racist chanting: fans simply see it as a strategic way to get under players' skins. So it isn't a moral issue to them since they 'mean no harm'. You can't tell fans to stop bantering with opposition teams after all (and why would you? When done tastefully it's part of the process of enjoying sports).

So as long as people feel morally justified, there's very little that can be done to stop isolated incidents aside from long campaigns hoping to educate them on the impact of their abuse. This isn't helped by the reluctance of FIFA, UEFA et al to make harsh blanket rules in case they eventually have to come down hard on bigger clubs. And that's not going away anytime soon because said bigger clubs have the power in that relationship.

Exactly, I know a Russian guy over here who's a Zenit fan, and its ridiculous watching him trying to explain that the monkey chants and throwing bananas aren't racist cause they don't mean it. Usually just ends up digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.

COYVB

Gbear wrote: »

I wouldn't begrudge the decision to move abroad of anyone but I do hope someone has the chutzpah to make a stand in Britain.

It'd do wonders if it was at a big premier league club.

Was just saying this in the car to the wife earlier, no disrespect meant to Rogers, but if a world class player, like a Messi or Ronaldo, who had huge amounts of respect for their footballing ability universally came out as gay, it'd completely shatter the whole stigma around it immediately

Lovely Bloke

Al Capwned wrote: »

Nothing to do with him being black - he was, afaik, the first and only active player to come out. Twenty three years ago.

I reckon that as soon as the first step is taken, the next step will be easier.

So why are you not saying that Fashanu was this mythical "first step" then? Since he came out it has not gotten any easier. He WAS the first openly gay footballer after all.

We've also had the Hysen chap, and now this American fella come out - and that's it.

Now, I don't care one way or another if a person is gay, bi or asexual - but there's no way society in general, or gay people, parents or black people for that matter, should be holding footballers as role models - it's a really, really bad idea, as we all know the behaviour of footballers in their private lives can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Even straight ones.

leggo

The problem isn't so much that people are suggesting footballers be held up as role models, to inspire, say, young gay people that there's nothing wrong with coming out. The problem is more a case of gay footballers having to currently live in the shadows, not being able to be themselves and always fearful of being outed by the papers, Twitter etc (read Jason Collins talk about his life pre-coming out for a good example of this). If one were to brave the elements and become accepted by the public in general, then it could benefit so many more footballers that follow them in the future.

Things have changed massively since Fashanu's day. Society's opinion towards homosexuality has flipped 180-degrees for the most part. Part of the problem for him, for example, was that even his family didn't support him. His relationship with John deteriorated seriously after he came out as he was seen as a bit of embarrassment. John would roll his eyes when asked about him in interviews and the like (and that was seen as an acceptable response). You certainly wouldn't get that kinda public rejection these days, John would be crucified and seen as a bigot.

I don't think that I, or anyone else here, particularly need to see some high profile name come out of the closet. I don't care about their sexualities tbh. But that isn't to say it wouldn't make a huge difference within the game.

CSF

Gbear wrote: »

I wouldn't begrudge the decision to move abroad of anyone but I do hope someone has the chutzpah to make a stand in Britain.

It'd do wonders if it was at a big premier league club.

Most football fans aren't really that thick, i don't think.
Everyone knows a gay person these days. I'd hope they generally don't abuse them in the street.

So long as they come down hard on homophobia masquerading as "winding players up" from the vocal morons I think acceptance would happen pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, I think you're underestimating just how scummy sections of certain club's fanbases are.

Xavi6

Just came on for LA.

Chicago Fire have done superbly out of this whole thing considering they acquired Mike Magee, who is excellent, for the rights of a player who firstly retired then stated he didn't want to play for them.

Oat23

Xavi6 wrote: »

Just came on for LA.

Chicago Fire have done superbly out of this whole thing considering they acquired Mike Magee, who is excellent, for the rights of a player who firstly retired then stated he didn't want to play for them.

He's from Chicago so he might have asked to be traded after he heard they were trying to acquire the rights to Rodgers. Definitely a one sided trade in favour of the Fire though.

They'll still suck unfortunately.

BOHtox

Robbie Rogers is such a slickster!

cournioni

BOHtox wrote: »

Robbie Rogers is such a slickster!

He's just a cravat away from dressing up like Austin Powers... :P