Talking Footy

THE AFL will only be a truly inclusive game when a player comes out as openly gay and no one really cares.

Call it a media hunt, or extreme fascination with breaking new ground, but there is still intense interest in the first AFL player to publicly out themselves.
http://m.heraldsun.com.au/sport/AFL/the ... 6878120628

The Media is still asking this question...
It is 2014,not 1950.
What is wrong with this code that makes a man afraid to openly Gay.
Other sports crossed the GAY BRIDGE problem decades ago with barely a ripple.yet in this sport it would appear a player is not game to openly declare himself gay for fear of the repercussions....Just as ACKER stated a few yrs ago.

Personally I could not blame a player for keeping it quiet .
If Fat Eddie is homophobic ,he could say what he likes & get away with it...
He has no problem making Racist jokes & getting away with it..

Lift your game AFL & move into the 2000s.

oddly enough no player has been BRAVE enough to declare themselves as GAY.

Of course its a media beat up..
In reality many AFL players have come out & there has not been a problem...


OH WAIT ON...

NO there seems to be a problem within this sport where a Man would rather keep his lifestyle choice a secret .
I wonder why .
Would it be the 1950s backlash he fears.

& I know a lot of GAY men like to keep their lifestyle secret or not be in the limelight.

But as with other sports/jobs etc there is always some who are proud to be gay,or don't care what anyone thinks.....except in AFL..

Get with the times .

& wookie.

Mike Pike

so where is the backlash your talking about?

Didact wrote:

so where is the backlash your talking about?

We will have to wait till some player feels comfortable enough to "Come Out".
At the moment that's not happening.

CHL magazine

April 9 2014

Discussion have broken out in the AFL, regarding how best to deal with this latest crisis. On the agenda is a some what radical plan, all AFL players would be thoroughly screened, ensuring all players have at least one straight parent. This new clause would work hand in hand with the already existing, one white parent rule. Religious beliefs would be dealt with in a separate section of the Manifesto.

Yeah im not so sure about this one. I mean if I were a gay AFL player I'd be fairly concerned about how the eddies and ackermanis's would react. Eddie's influence is unfortunately quite great and unfortunately this has allowed him to come out with homophobic and racist gaffs without receiving the slightest punishment. It's quite amusing and disturbing how uncomfortable eddie gets when an openly gay man sits down opposite him on who wants to be a millionaire. Amusing but yeah, disturbing.

As a result of the lack of punishment eddie has recieved in the past, I don't really think the AFL is capable of providing a safe environment for a man to come out as gay...

Not sure what the AFL have apparently done to make gay players feel like they can't "come out". Maybe like most normal people they simply want to keep their sexuality private

AFLcrap1 wrote:

oddly enough no player has been BRAVE enough to declare themselves as GAY.

Of course its a media beat up..
In reality many AFL players have come out & there has not been a problem...


OH WAIT ON...

NO there seems to be a problem within this sport where a Man would rather keep his lifestyle choice a secret .
I wonder why .
Would it be the 1950s backlash he fears.

& I know a lot of GAY men like to keep their lifestyle secret or not be in the limelight.

But as with other sports/jobs etc there is always some who are proud to be gay,or don't care what anyone thinks.....except in AFL..

Get with the times .

& wookie.

Mike Pike

why is a sport homophobic just because a former player hasn't come out and been a token celebrity.
get off your high horse spazza, looser
as the article is nothing more than a beat up.

after aker was sacked by the bulldogs, for his comments, as well as for other things.
no player has ever come out and said he hasen't been welcome in the change room.
for several years the AFL has had players take part in the stkilda gay pride match, as well as they have had .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Ball ... _activist)
AFL Pride Campaign[edit]
Ball started a petition on change.org on 9 September 2012 that called on the Australian Football League (AFL) to play Say No To Homophobia ads on the big screen of the 2012 AFL Grand Final and also commit to a Pride Round in 2013.[3] The petition received over 27,000 signatures and gained national and international media coverage.[4][5][6][7]

On September 21, 2012 the AFL agreed to air the Say No to Homophobia ads during the Preliminary Finals.[8]

On December 16, 2012 it was announced that the AFL was considering a Pride Game between powerhouse clubs Sydney and Hawthorn during round 23 of the 2013 Season.[9][10] On May 19, 2013 the AFL said the themed match had been postponed due to scheduling issues.[11]

Ball was invited to address new AFL draftees at the AFL Players Association's induction camp on January 7, 2013 to speak about homophobia in sport.[12]

On January 11, 2013 it was announced that Ball would lead the 18th Pride March Victoria, along with his teammates from the Yarra Glen Football Club.[13] He was joined at Pride March Victoria by AFL footballers Brock McLean and Daniel Jackson, which marked the first time AFL players had been involved in the annual event.[14]

On May 17, 2013 the AFL Players Association launched a campaign for International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) called 'Footy4IDAHO' inspired by Jason's story.[15][16] The campaign featured some of the AFL's biggest names including Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson, Collingwood midfielders Scott Pendlebury and Luke Ball, and North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow who all made a public pledge to never use homophobic language.[17]

In early 2014, all first-to-third-year AFL players were educated on the impact of homophobia as part of the league's Respect and Responsibility program, which included a documentary using Jason Ball's personal experience as a case study. [18]

the AFL has done nothing but support the gay community for.
wow another failed thread, well done.

wow not what has the NRL done, their token gay player ian roberts came out in the 90s and made a celebrity of him self. any other gay NRL players come after that?
NRL is homophobic, friggen hypocrite,

at the end of the day they are footballers what they do in their private life privite it is legel, who cares

Yeah that's ok there adam, apart from the typos that seem to be a result of you back on the turps again

That's ok from the AFL...just ok. But the fact of the matter is blokes in the most influential position can spout homophobic gaffs and not be pulled up for it. This is the upper echelons of the AFL community, those with the most influence, ...and they get off pretty much scot free. This tells us, whether or not the AFL does the easy token stuff like flying the gay flag on gf day, that the AFL is not serious about stamping out homophobia. Thus its not surprising the many gay men who've played in the AFL, whether they wish to or not, have not openly come out as gay.

Comprehende?

I'm not saying its much better in the NRL. But just going on the facts and our lack of an 'eddie' and a 'sam' I'd say it is better in the NRL.

It has always been a concern for me with the way the AFL handles this, as the lack of action against Stephen Milne as recently as 2011 is a testament to. When Ian Roberts came out he was supported and helped. The only example I know of in Aussie Rules wasn't at AFL level. It was at local Melbourne level, and that only got publicity because the gay man was HIV positive.

I have always been an Akermanis critic, even when he played for us at Whitten Oval. He'll be onto it for certain and I would expect Newman to try something "smart" (as he foolishly did with the race issue a few years back).

adamj1300 wrote:

AFLcrap1 wrote:

oddly enough no player has been BRAVE enough to declare themselves as GAY.

Of course its a media beat up..
In reality many AFL players have come out & there has not been a problem...


OH WAIT ON...

NO there seems to be a problem within this sport where a Man would rather keep his lifestyle choice a secret .
I wonder why .
Would it be the 1950s backlash he fears.

& I know a lot of GAY men like to keep their lifestyle secret or not be in the limelight.

But as with other sports/jobs etc there is always some who are proud to be gay,or don't care what anyone thinks.....except in AFL..

Get with the times .

& wookie.

Mike Pike

why is a sport homophobic just because a former player hasn't come out and been a token celebrity.
get off your high horse spazza, looser
as the article is nothing more than a beat up.

after aker was sacked by the bulldogs, for his comments, as well as for other things.
no player has ever come out and said he hasen't been welcome in the change room.
for several years the AFL has had players take part in the stkilda gay pride match, as well as they have had .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Ball ... _activist)
AFL Pride Campaign[edit]
Ball started a petition on change.org on 9 September 2012 that called on the Australian Football League (AFL) to play Say No To Homophobia ads on the big screen of the 2012 AFL Grand Final and also commit to a Pride Round in 2013.[3] The petition received over 27,000 signatures and gained national and international media coverage.[4][5][6][7]

On September 21, 2012 the AFL agreed to air the Say No to Homophobia ads during the Preliminary Finals.[8]

On December 16, 2012 it was announced that the AFL was considering a Pride Game between powerhouse clubs Sydney and Hawthorn during round 23 of the 2013 Season.[9][10] On May 19, 2013 the AFL said the themed match had been postponed due to scheduling issues.[11]

Ball was invited to address new AFL draftees at the AFL Players Association's induction camp on January 7, 2013 to speak about homophobia in sport.[12]

On January 11, 2013 it was announced that Ball would lead the 18th Pride March Victoria, along with his teammates from the Yarra Glen Football Club.[13] He was joined at Pride March Victoria by AFL footballers Brock McLean and Daniel Jackson, which marked the first time AFL players had been involved in the annual event.[14]

On May 17, 2013 the AFL Players Association launched a campaign for International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) called 'Footy4IDAHO' inspired by Jason's story.[15][16] The campaign featured some of the AFL's biggest names including Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson, Collingwood midfielders Scott Pendlebury and Luke Ball, and North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow who all made a public pledge to never use homophobic language.[17]

In early 2014, all first-to-third-year AFL players were educated on the impact of homophobia as part of the league's Respect and Responsibility program, which included a documentary using Jason Ball's personal experience as a case study. [18]

the AFL has done nothing but support the gay community for.
wow another failed thread, well done.

wow not what has the NRL done, their token gay player ian roberts came out in the 90s and made a celebrity of him self. any other gay NRL players come after that?
NRL is homophobic, friggen hypocrite,

at the end of the day they are footballers what they do in their private life privite it is legel, who cares

Bhaaaaaaaaaa.
So you applaud the 'TOKEN" fumblball effort .
Its nothing but the usual "BE SEEN TO BE DOING SOMETHING",yet do very little AFL way of IMAGE PROTECTION.

Come on Adumbliar..help your sport out of the racist homophobic 1950s.

PS Xman will delete your posts if you use the **** word,.

Not allowed anymore in the new Hold hands & sing Kumbaya Fight club.

Show us some evidence of this homophobia

Once again another POINTLESS thread!

Swans4ever wrote:

Once again another POINTLESS thread!

Of course you say that .
Anything posted that paints Derpball in a bad light is either
Pointless
Wrong
Bad reporting..

With the push nowadays ,for Gay marriage,acceptance etc,it is sad that a derpballer cannot come out,because of fear of the backlash.

ACKER was right by the looks of it.
& seeing as he was a player & knew the ins & outs of club life ,then I will take his word over a bunch of brainwashed Vladiators .

Now I sit & wait for
ACKER hasn't a clue.
he has no idea etc..

Well if you're adding weight to Aker's claims lets have a look at what he says:

"In women's sport - tennis, golf, cricket, hockey and soccer - being gay carries no stigma. But men's sport is well behind in acceptance"

"Take American-born British national John Amaechi, who became the first NBA professional to come out when he published his book Man in the Middle. Amaechi claims he has spoken to a dozen professional players who are gay. He says none have asked him if they should come out, but if they did he would tell them not to. After all he is not a gay rights activist.

In an athletic environment the rules are different from the cultural rules for men

Seems to me that Aker is criticising the culture of male sport, not specifically the AFL