‘FOOTBALL’S NOT YET READY FOR ANOTHER PLAYER TO COME OUT’

FOOTBALL might still not be ready for another openly gay footballer – according to the niece of Justin Fashanu.

The big striker rocked the English game when he came out in 1990 while still playing professional football.

But 30 years on, Amal Fashanu admits that while society has changed, the mentality in the game remains stuck in the past.

Amal runs the Justin Fashanu Foundation in memory of her uncle who committed suicide in 1998.

But she still fears for her gay friends in the game who are keeping their sexuality a secret.

“I really want to protect them to the point where I want them to see that it will be a good experience for them to come out – and that it is something good and positive for them to just be who they are,” she said. “But with football, it is a dark secretive world. From my experience, it is not that open and has it changed that much? I’m not that sure.

“Every year they are getting more and more money and with money comes problems.

“Right now, even with society changing and with supporters and fans, our mentality is changing.

“I am just not sure that now, if a footballer came out, still that would be the moment of ‘yay’.

“It would have to be a tough footballer. He would have to have a thick skin.

“But it’s just about being who you are, so you are nothing more than just you.

“It is still great, but I can’t lie and say it will be a rosy path and they are going to throw flowers at you.

“There is going to be a good side and a bad side, but personally the good outweighs the bad; you get to be free and there is no price for freedom.”