Gareth Thomas: ‘Homophobia is still normalised in football’ Standing atop the sheer cliffs near the community of St Brides Major, Gareth Thomas reflects on the suicidal thoughts he […]

Standing atop the sheer cliffs near the community of St Brides Major, Gareth Thomas reflects on the suicidal thoughts he had while contemplating coming out as gay.

“Everyday I’d come and take a step closer to the edge,” says the former Wales rugby captain.

The image of Thomas peering down at the rocky beach below is stark.

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The Welshman is speaking during his BBC documentary ‘Hate in the Beautiful Game’, in which he investigates the lack of measures being taken by footballing bodies to protect homosexual footballers.

Thomas, who came out publicly as gay in 2009, tells i of his worries for professional footballers should they take the same brave step.

“My biggest fear is that a player could come out and it could turn to tragedy.”

The normalisation of homophobia at football grounds

It’s symptomatic of football’s problem with homophobia that a rugby player is required to present a documentary about the Football Association and Professional Footballers’ Association’s failure to protect homosexual footballers.

“Once they enter that turnstile, once they go through and once they’ve paid that ticket price they feel that it almost gives them the right to say whatever they want.”

There are currently no professional football players playing in England who have publicly come out.

Thomas is a lifelong fan of Cardiff City and due to his country’s recent success under Chris Coleman, he has taken an even keener interest in the sport.

The retired rugby player describes the unease he used to feel when attending games at Ninian Park.

“When my sexuality was hidden it was a fearful place, because you can’t really react if someone is homophobic to a player,” he says.

“People knew who I was when I watched Cardiff and if I’d reacted there would have been a question mark over my head.”

Now, Thomas is at ease with his sexuality and himself. “I feel that the environment doesn’t intimidate me because I have such a strong understanding of who I am.”

Indeed several times throughout the documentary, the ex-British and Irish Lions player looks on in bemusement at fully grown groups of men chanting homophobic slurs at football fans and players during matches.

Thomas admits he was surprised by how entrenched homophobia still is in football.

“I was alarmed by the normalisation of hostile homophobic words, that a lot of people don’t even hear it or notice it because it has become so normal.

“People will say ‘nothing happens here’, but if they listen then the reality is that it’s happening.

“Once they enter that turnstile, once they go through and once they’ve paid that ticket price they feel that it almost gives them the right to say whatever they want.”

Football’s top-down failure

Gareth Thomas maintains that rugby itself isn’t “squeaky clean” and that sport as whole has a long way to go before it is an inclusive environment for LGBTQ people.

However, the 43-year-old insists that football is “way behind” other sports.

“The main difference is nothing is being done about it,” he argues. “There’s an understanding that it’s there, but there’s not an understanding at the top of how bad it is or where the existence lies.”

During ‘Hate in the Beautiful Game’ Thomas meets with the woefully unprepared PFA.

He admits to being devastated by the organisation’s lack of preparation and protection for any gay players who may be thinking of coming out publicly.

“More than anything I was absolutely gutted,” he says.

“I thought, ‘how would I feel if I was a player and the PFA weren’t even there to look after me?’

“There’s not a business in the world that doesn’t have a diverse workforce or doesn’t have things in place to protect people who feel they might be in the minority. Why are the authorities any different to anyone else?”

‘Social media is where people go to vent about sexuality’

As Thomas investigates the causes of homophobia in football, the Welshman comes up against an increasingly ugly aspect of the beautiful game: social media abuse.

A quick search of the slur ‘faggot’ on Twitter uncovers reams of insults aimed at footballers often for something as simple as a stray throw-in or pass.

Thomas shares his concerns for players – in particular homosexual players – who come face-to-face with this abuse on a daily basis.

“Social media is where people go to vent about sexuality,” he says.

“The amount of homophobic abuse that is on social media, for something as little as a bad pass or shot is shocking.

“I think social media, despite being a modern platform, enables people to set us back.”

His advice for footballers considering coming out

As the first openly gay professional rugby union player, Thomas understands the crippling fears of going public.

But he has these words for any footballer considering following in his footsteps, with or without the help of the FA and PFA.

“Ultimately as with any sportsman you try to please everyone – it’s part of your DNA, it’s part of your job, you’ve grown up doing that,” he says.

“But the reality is you can’t, there’s probably a group of teammates around you or a group of supporters and your family, the real pillars who make you the person you are.

“I think if you have them on side, then you have the ability to turn around to everyone else and say ‘if it doesn’t please you, if you don’t accept it then ultimately it doesn’t matter to me, because the people I care about accept it.'”