Fashanu was a forward who played for a number of clubs starting in 1978, and he appeared 11 times for England’s Under 21 national team. Justin Fashanu lived his life in the shadows until October 1990, when he became the first English footballer to come out in a media interview. I was falling out of love with the game, and it was causing me mental health issues. “I had been demoted in refereeing levels. “(Deciding whether to come out) tormented me for many years, until a point my performance was suffering,” Atkin wrote. In a column for the Independent, Atkin pointed to a number of campaigns designed with the intention of eliminating homophobia in soccer and drew upon his own experiences with mental health to make parallels with the “Gay Footballer” account.
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FOOTBALL IS GAY TWITTER PROFESSIONAL
Referee Ryan Atkin came out in 2017 - the first match official in a professional league to do so. “That was something I feared a lot with everyone I told, but everyone – teammates, family, friends – has been amazing.” “The reaction has been amazing, I haven’t had one negative comment,” Brennan said in July. Earlier in 2019, Australian forward Andy Brennan became the first player from his country to come out as gay, which he has since described as a liberating experience. Real or otherwise, anxieties are not unique, but they are not shared universally by other footballers in similar positions.
FOOTBALL IS GAY TWITTER OFFLINE
The page - offline for more than a week at the time of writing - is suspected by some of being a hoax, bearing similarities to what North Americans refer to as catfishing. The reputed footballer vacillated between offering more details or continuing to shield his identity in messages to the British Broadcasting Corporation. While active, the account received widespread attention and support, but anger and confusion followed the account’s termination after 19 days. Prior to the account’s deletion, the “Gay Footballer” seemed to emerge as a beacon of hope for many followers of a sport that has a longstanding affiliation with homophobia - one that, in some circles, has experienced a surge.
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He claimed to be under 23 years old, consistent with the ages of many second-division players. The soccer player in question claimed he played in the English Football League Championship, which is the tier directly below the Premier League.
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Then, to the surprise of many, the account’s operator deactivated it on July 24 - less than a month after the first tweet. Posting under the handle the account racked up almost 50,000 followers. The Gay Footballer Twitter account gave LGBTQ fans and supporters a glimmer of hope that an active player would come out, but the end to the account hasn't ended the call to kick out homophobia.