http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ay-hero--Martin-Samuel.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Could just one footballer please come out and be gay, so everybody can be really cool about it and the sport can get on with its life? Just one, it’s not much to ask surely?
Football is beginning to sound a little desperate with its pleading. Rugby, cricket, they’ve all had their gay watershed moment.
And until football does, too, it will continue to be presumed that the sport has not evolved enough to handle male homosexuality.
(Hope Powell, the manager of England’s women, has been openly gay for years, without comment, yet that does not seem to count.)
The gay pressure group, Stonewall, has called again for football to tackle its ‘culture of fear’, while Anders Lindegaard, the Manchester United goalkeeper, has said that football needs a ‘gay hero’.
So here’s a thought. Joey Barton continues his quest for intellectual and social respectability. Why not come out as gay?
Instant credibility, instant respect, untouchable by the Football Association or future employers. His past misdeeds mentally reprocessed and explained.
‘Well, of course he put his cigar out in that bloke’s face, Gary. He was a tortured soul, forced to live a lie.’
And imagine the new material. A never-ending treasure trove for Barton’s Twitter feed: Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Lady Bunny.
And, let’s face it, with that new accent, he’s probably halfway there.
And Joseph's comeback:
Joseph Barton @Joey7Barton
I see Jim Royles giving it beans about my sexuality in the Daily Mail. Like thats anything to do with him. Can he say what he's said?
Sounds slightly bigoted and homophobic to me. Any legal-eagles out there know if he can get away with this?
My sexuality is of no concern to anyone except me and my family. Can't see the missus being happy about this piece.
Nor, would I like my child (when old enough) to read this tripe. Shoddy journalism
I will probably have to sue. I don't really need the money or the hassle. So I offer this as a olive branch
Actually, no. Theres no olive branch. Enough's enough.
Its just wrong and a little bit weird why he would write this
In light of the Leveson enquiry, it seems a strange thing to print. I mean I have never even met the guy. He doesn't know me. Shocking
Could just one footballer please come out and be gay, so everybody can be really cool about it and the sport can get on with its life? Just one, it’s not much to ask surely?
Football is beginning to sound a little desperate with its pleading. Rugby, cricket, they’ve all had their gay watershed moment.
And until football does, too, it will continue to be presumed that the sport has not evolved enough to handle male homosexuality.
(Hope Powell, the manager of England’s women, has been openly gay for years, without comment, yet that does not seem to count.)
The gay pressure group, Stonewall, has called again for football to tackle its ‘culture of fear’, while Anders Lindegaard, the Manchester United goalkeeper, has said that football needs a ‘gay hero’.
So here’s a thought. Joey Barton continues his quest for intellectual and social respectability. Why not come out as gay?
Instant credibility, instant respect, untouchable by the Football Association or future employers. His past misdeeds mentally reprocessed and explained.
‘Well, of course he put his cigar out in that bloke’s face, Gary. He was a tortured soul, forced to live a lie.’
And imagine the new material. A never-ending treasure trove for Barton’s Twitter feed: Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Lady Bunny.
And, let’s face it, with that new accent, he’s probably halfway there.
And Joseph's comeback:
Joseph Barton @Joey7Barton
I see Jim Royles giving it beans about my sexuality in the Daily Mail. Like thats anything to do with him. Can he say what he's said?
Sounds slightly bigoted and homophobic to me. Any legal-eagles out there know if he can get away with this?
My sexuality is of no concern to anyone except me and my family. Can't see the missus being happy about this piece.
Nor, would I like my child (when old enough) to read this tripe. Shoddy journalism
I will probably have to sue. I don't really need the money or the hassle. So I offer this as a olive branch
Actually, no. Theres no olive branch. Enough's enough.
Its just wrong and a little bit weird why he would write this
In light of the Leveson enquiry, it seems a strange thing to print. I mean I have never even met the guy. He doesn't know me. Shocking