Philadelphia Union fans honor an openly gay former soccer player

Nick Schwartz, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Barb Colligon/Flickr

Former United States men's national team and MLS player Robbie Rogers publicly announced he was gay and walked away from the game of soccer in an emotional blog post February 15th. Rogers, who played for the Columbus Crew for five seasons, had most recently played in England with League One team Stevenage, but wrote that he was "afraid to show whom I really was because of fear."

The Philadelphia Union kicked off the 2013 MLS season on Saturday against Sporting Kansas City, and a Union fan group called the "Sons of Ben" showed their support of Rogers with a touching display. In the 18th minute, fans held up "RR" signs and remained silent to honor the former No. 18.

Earl Gardner/Philly Soccer Page

h/t Gay4soccer