Fury as German ex-football boss says: 'There's no place in football for gays'



Rudi Assauer: Gay rights groups said his comments were 'beneath contempt'

A former football manager has provoked outrage by saying there is ‘no place' for gay players in football.

Rudi Assauer, who was boss of Schalke in Germany, said: ‘Perhaps they are OK in other sports but not in football.

‘If a player came to me and said he was gay I would say to him: “You have shown courage.” But then I would tell him to find something else to do.



‘That's because those who out themselves always end up busted by it, ridiculed by their fellow players and by people in the stands. We should spare them these witch-hunts.’



His outburst is set to enrage world footballing authorities who are making concerted efforts to rid the game of homophobia.



Asked whether he had ever met a gay footballer during his many years as both player and manager, 65-year-old Assauer replied: ‘No, never.

‘When I was in Bremen, I heard that our masseur was gay. So I went up to him and said: 'Look, son, do me a favour - look for another job.’

Assauer's comments come in a week when homosexuality has been in Germany's spotlight for other reasons.

Guido Westerwelle, the country's openly gay foreign minister, was criticised for taking his lover on an official government trip to South America.

Storm: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, left, sparked a row by taking his gay partner Michael Mronz, right, on a government trip to South America

Critics claimed the decision to take partner Michael Mronz with him had further dented the coalition government headed by Angela Merkel's CDU conservative party.

Mronz, an event manager who organizes sports events, said he went along to try to do some business but that he paid his own way.

Justin Fashanu: The only UK footballer to openly admit being gay. Eight years later, in 1998, he committed suicide

Mr Westerwelle said: ‘I am pleased that Herr Mronz is taking the time to accompany me at his own expense to inform himself about social projects in the region and get involved in them.

‘We want to continue that, and we will.’

A spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Federation in Germany, Renate Rampf, warned that she saw in both stories a ‘resurgent homophobia’ in Germany.

She said there would have been no fuss if Westerwelle were married and had taken his wife on the trip to South America.

As for Assauer, she said his comments 'are beneath contempt’.

Football has long been dogged by a homophobic image.

Of about 4,000 professional footballers in England and Wales none will openly acknowledge they are gay.

Paul Elliott, the former Chelsea and Celtic star who works with football diversity campaign group Kick It Out, has said at least 12 Premier League players are gay.

The only openly gay footballer to date in Britain was Justin Fashanu, who suffered hostility from fans when he came out in 1990. Eight years later he committed suicide.



After Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas came out last year, the publicist Max Clifford revealed that he advised two high-profile gay Premiership stars to keep their sexuality secret because football ‘remains in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia’.