UK soccer league boss says support is there for players to come out - Australia Gay News Network

While high-profile athletes have emerged in other sports, the UK football league has not had an out gay player since Justin Fashanu in 1990. But with the Daily Mirror reporting that two top-flight players are set to come out, the head of the UK premier league says the players will be treated with respect if they choose to reveal their sexuality.

“The environment would be entirely suitable for them to come out,” Premier League boss Richard Scudamore told the BBC.

“It would be welcomed and I think there would be a tolerance to it. I think the time would be right to do that,” Scudamore said, adding he is “absolutely sure” there are gay players at England's top football level.

“It would be very strange if there wasn't,” he said.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger (pictured) publicly revealed his homosexuality in 2014, after his retirement.

Scudamore has also ordered the French national anthem to be played before this weekend's Premier League matches.

He described it as an act of "solidarity and remembrance" after the Paris terror attacks in which 129 people died on Friday November 13.

image: Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Author Andrew Shaw