Jake Daniels is 17 years old, is a professional footballer, plays for Blackpool, in the English second division, and has declared himself homosexual, which makes him the only active footballer to disclose such a condition. For whatever reasons, football continues to be a singular redoubt in the field of sport because if homosexuals practice it –it can be assumed–, they prefer to avail themselves of the right of silence, which protects everyone.
The case inevitably evokes the figure of another Englishman, Justin Fashanu, who went ahead of the times and declared himself gay back in the 1990s. Too soon: the public was baited, his teammates mortified him – on and off the field of play – and the cocktail party turned out to be fateful because Fashanu took his own life. Years, for example, of appalling tragedies in stadiums, where fans were capable of causing deadly avalanches and fences seemed essential. Football seemed excluded from civilization...
The singular thing about the “confession” is that Daniels says he is prepared for the public to insult him because “they pay a ticket to see me and I make a living playing”. The approach is commendably consistent, beyond the rules of coexistence that govern the stadiums: the public cannot be the last monkey in the show, in which he paints less and less.
One is aware of the evolution of football in the last fifty years. What an evolution! The public took advantage of any weakness, physical defect or vulnerability in a footballer, referee or line judge to go in for the kill without hesitation. And if the harassment did not affect the "victim", there was always the option of appealing to the mother, girlfriend or wife of the lucky one. Everything was worth – and was part of the show – to destabilize, plunge into misery or overwhelm an opponent or the referee triplet.
Jake Daniels can be calm today and be whatever he wants, tell it or not. In the same way that in the fields of god there are women who referee men's matches and nobody shouts that "you had to be a woman!", a clichéd phrase very much from the 20th century (and one of the softest).
I am one of those who are surprised that sexuality –whatever it is– can be considered taboo. Has football ceased to be a "manly sport"? I doubt it. And I don't see why a homosexual can't practice what is labeled as “manly football”, which includes dedication, fighting spirit and throwing the occasional kick at the rival. In the same way that stadiums do not need fences or bars, soccer players can declare themselves gay and soccer players lesbian. It is also not mandatory. Deep down, no one really cares. Here's the progress.
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