Rory Magrath

On the door-step of equality: Attitudes toward gay athletes among academy-level footballers

In this semi-structured interview research, we investigate the attitudes of 22 academy-level association football (soccer) players who are potentially on the verge of becoming professional athletes. We find that, as a result of these men belonging to a generation holding inclusive attitudes towards homosexuality, independent of whether they maintain contact with gay men, they are unanimously supportive of gay men coming out on their team. Thus, this research supports a growing body of literature suggesting that teamsport culture is no longer a bastion of homophobia in the UK. Their support includes athletes being unconcerned with sharing rooms with gay players, changing with them in the locker rooms, or relating to them on a social and emotional level. The only apprehension they maintain is that having a gay teammate might somewhat alter homosocial banter, as they would not want to offend that individual.

The intersection of race, religion and homophobia in British football:

In this semi-structured interview research, I use inclusive masculinity theory to frame attitudes toward homosexuality in 17 young Christian footballers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. I show that, despite the recent decrease of cultural homophobia, almost half of these men maintained conservative attitudes toward homosexuality. Others, however, were more tolerant, particularly when discussing legislation introducing marriage equality in the UK. Participants’ attitudes were positively correlated with where they had grown up. Most strikingly, support was almost unanimous when engaged in the hypothetical discussion of levels of support for a gay teammate, which extended to assuming the role of ‘best man’ at a friend’s same-sex wedding. Thus, this research advances inclusive masculinity theory by applying it to the attitudes of young, religious men who are under-represented in contemporary masculinities literature.

The Internet as a Site of Decreasing Cultural Homophobia in Association Football An Online Response by Fans to the Coming Out of Thomas Hitzlsperger

This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message boards located across the United Kingdom and 978 online comments in response to a Guardian newspaper article regarding the decision by former German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, to publicly come out as gay in January 2014. Adopting the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity theory, the findings demonstrate almost universal inclusivity through the rejection of homophobia and frequent contestation of comments that express orthodox views. From a period of high homophobia during the 1980s and 1990s, just 2 percent of the 6,106 comments contained pernicious homophobic intent. Rather than allow for covert homophobic hate speech toward those with a different sexual orientation, 98 percent of the comments illustrate a significant decrease in cultural homophobia than was present when Justin Fashanu came out in 1990.

‘To Try and Gain an Advantage for My Team’: Homophobic and Homosexually Themed Chanting among English Football Fans:

Association football (soccer) fans are becoming increasingly liberal in their attitudes towards homosexuality. However, the continued presence of homosexually themed chanting – normally interpreted as evidence of homophobia by footballing authorities – has received little academic attention. Through 30 semi-structured interviews with 30 male football fans of various English football clubs, this article uses McCormack’s model of homosexually themed language to investigate the prevalence, triggers and interpretation of this chanting. It highlights that, despite unanimous acceptance of homosexuality, all but five participants engaged in homosexually themed chanting. This was predominantly facilitated by the nature of sporting competition and matches involving rival clubs. Alongside a variety of perceived weaknesses, fans interpreted these chants as a way of attempting to benefit one’s team. Accordingly, this research highlights a discursive gap between fans’ inclusive attitudes and their practice of chanting homosexually themed language inside football stadia.

From hegemonic to inclusive masculinities in English professional football: marking a cultural shift

Abstract In this article, we conduct a generational study of measuring progress towards the inclusion of homosexuality in professional sport. We accomplish this by interviewing an openly gay football player, Anton Hysén, in the year 2017, using the precise same questions about the relationship between his homosexuality and sport that were asked of the first openly gay professional footballer in 1992, Justin Fashanu. We thus measure difference in attitude according to the 25 years that have elapsed between the interviews. Our results emphasize two themes: First, the near-total acceptance of being gay within professional football today, compared to 25 years ago; and second, the social praise that is levied upon today’s openly gay sportsmen, compared to the social stigma placed upon Fashanu.

Bisexual Erasure in the British Print Media: Representation of Tom Daley's Coming Out

ABSTRACT In December 2013, British Olympic diver Tom Daley announced that he had begun dating a man but was still attracted to women. In doing so he became the highest profile male athlete to disclose that he has bisexual attractions. This article provides a textual analysis of the British print medias reaction in the week after Daleys ‘coming out’ announcement and examines whether the portrayal of him is consistent with the inclusive response to gay male athletes who have come out of the closet in recent years. Results indicate almost unanimous support for Daleys decision to come out. However, highlighting the processes of bisexual erasure, much of the print media labelled Daley as gay—rather than bisexual. This article thus highlights that the print media is ostensibly supportive of male sexual minority athletes, but the evidence we present suggests that the media are simultaneously significant in erasing bisexuality as a legitimate sexual orientation.

Media review: Sara Allen (Director/Producer), ‘Gareth Thomas: Hate in the Beautiful Game’, BBC Wales, 2017: A response in defence of professional football

Approaching the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales,1 a special BBC television season entitled Gay Britannia has broadcast a range of documentaries. Each covering a range of issues related to the changing cultural landscape of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities, these films offer important insights into this history. With a specific focus on professional football, Gareth Thomas’ BBC documentary, Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas: Hate in the Beautiful Game, claimed that English football2 risks ‘being left in the dark ages’ and that ‘homophobic abuse is rife on the terraces’. Thomas, a renowned rugby union player for several years, came out in 2009, after years of personal torment about his sexuality almost led him to suicide (Thomas, 2014). In doing so, he became the first active, professional rugby player to come out in what he described at the time as ‘the toughest, most macho of male sports’ (BBC, 2009). His coming out was met with unconditional acceptance in the world of professional rugby (Anderson et al., 2016). Professional football, however, has not had a pioneering figure like Thomas. Justin Fashanu, whose coming out in 1990 was met with a severe homophobic backlash from the football community, eventually leading to his suicide in 1998 (Magrath, 2017a), remains English professional football’s only active gay player. Since Fashanu’s experience, attitudes towards homosexuality have significantly liberalised in the UK and other parts of Western culture (Clements and Field, 2014; Twenge et al., 2016). Moreover, the LGBTQ communities have also had significant legal gains in recent years, such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage in several countries across the world. Problematically, Thomas’ documentary claims that football is resistant to this social change (c.f. Cashmore and Cleland, 2012; Cleland, 2016; Cleland et al., 2016; Magrath, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c), continuing to exist as ‘the last refuge of extreme homophobia’. This line of reasoning is one also frequently reported by organisations such as Stonewall, whose recent survey revealed that 72% of football fans have heard homophobic abuse, while 22% claimed to be embarrassed should their favourite player come out. This, they argued, was evidence that, ‘Homophobic views [are] still prevalent in sport’ (Stonewall, 2016). A recent British governmental inquiry also concluded that homophobia 736911 IRS0010.1177/1012690217736911International Review for the Sociology of SportBook Reviews book-review2017

‘Impossible to implement?’: The effectiveness of anti-homophobia policy in English professional football

ABSTRACT Anti-discrimination initiatives have been part of a significant change in English football over the past three decades. Influential work by organisations such as Kick It Out—particularly for issues of racism—have seen a sharp decline in overt forms of discrimination inside English football stadia. Spectator disorder in football stadia is no longer as commonplace as it was throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Despite overwhelming academic evidence indicating that homophobia in football has declined, great emphasis has also been placed by the game’s governing body, the Football Association (FA), to ensure its culture is unconditionally inclusive. In this article, we adopt institutional analysis of the FA’s most recent anti-homophobia policy, Opening Doors and Joining. We then draw on 53 semi-structured interviews with English football fans’ perceptions on the success of this policy, highlighting that while some progress has been made, there are still numerous shortcomings of the FA’s attempts to implement change on the game. The article concludes with fan recommendations to challenge issues of homophobia more effectively.

Young men’s friendships: inclusive masculinities in a post-university setting

Abstract When Eric Anderson published inclusive masculinity theory (IMT), it was largely situated in relationships he observed with first-year undergraduate students. Here, he noticed a striking difference in behaviours and attitudes between the adolescent heterosexual men in the United States, compared to those in the UK. Since IMT’s inception, there has been a great deal of further enquiry into the social lives of young heterosexual men in both of these nations. What is undertheorized, however, is whether the intense emotional and physical tactility of homosocial relationships described in this literature will occur with current and future generations. Nor do we know if men described as exhibiting inclusive masculinities at university continue to do so – and to what degree – as they enter the workplace and develop family ties. This research utilizes 10 semi-structured interviews with the same participants from Anderson’s initial studies, showing that they continue to strive for the same emotional intimacy with male friends that they achieved during their time at university. Half also carried this behaviour into the friendships developed with other men since graduating from university. Thus, this research contributes to IMT as it offers preliminary analysis into the friendships of inclusive men, after their time at university.