Rumours reverberate around the global football trading community in a manner that makes urban myths seem totally irrelevant.
One of our contacts (a big thank you to Mark Loftus - a Yank Manc!) has prompted us to consider a potentially very disturbing aspect to some of the manipulative practices involved in English football. Allegedly, some of the corrupt players in the game are effectively being blackmailed by bookmakers due to their sexual preferences. We have heard this one before and we know of numerous gay footballers who are unwilling to declare their sexualities due to the homophobic response from fans, opponents, colleagues, commentators and agents. The issue is particularly marked in areas of our Black communities where dismissive gay terminology advocating violence can be the norm. Even the great Gil Scott Heron struggles to find reasons why some of his brothers are "dressing in drag". But, Mark's email prompted me to google the words "gay", "england" and "footballer" resulting in 1,370,000 results which is significant.
It is up to all of us to understand our own sexuality whether we be gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, straight or whatever. We strongly support the outing of individuals who remain in the closet as their refusal to be open about their sexual preferences results in ostracism and, potentially, violence for the people who are proud and public in their sexual orientation.
Notwithstanding this, one has to be sympathetic to any footballer (or other sportsperson) who is not strong enough to face up to the inevitable negative exposure that going public would incur.
We need to look at the bigger picture here though. Weakness is understandable but not acceptable. Millions of punters, adult fans and children are being ripped off by corrupt footballers taking the bookies dollar rather than being open about their lifestyles and behaviours. Someone has to be strong.
The backlash will be unpleasant. I remember clearly the tittering among bonehead British tv commentators when Palermo had the audacity to play in this year's UEFA Cup in pink (yes, pink) shirts or when Gianluigi Buffon wardrobed similarly when between the posts for Juventus. What sort of society develops an "ism" about a colour?
Oops, nearly forgot about racism there...
We are totally supportive of clubs like Manchester City who have formed close links with the city's gay community to the extent of not only reserving privileged seating areas in the ground but also developing an enlightened positive discrimination policy in their employment practices.
Totally unlike the bookmakers who truffle along in a gutter of psychopathic slime of their own making - "throw the game or we'll out you".
Of course, we are in rumour territory here and it is worth noting that googling "weapons", "mass" and "destruction" yielded 3,910,000 results and we all know that those don't exist so perhaps we are dealing with a global myth here. But the fact that the scenario seems entirely plausible is worthy of comment and discussion.
