Stay in the closet-

Stay In The Closet"  gay football players ate told in Australia.

In a powerful stand an Australian  football team has suspended one of its key  star players who write in a newspaper that gay players should stay hiding in the closet.

Jason Akermanis said it was too controversial to have an openly gay player, and in his newspaper column he urged them to "stay in the closet".     Following the publication,  his team, the Melbourne based 'Western Bulldogs'  promptly banned the star player for two games.

Australian Rules Football is well known to be one of the nations  most macho sporting games,  its steeped in customs and traditions and has never really been known for it's acceptance of either gay players or supporters.

The column published in the state of Victoria's Herald Sun paper,   Akermanis wrote: "Imagine the publicity associated with a current player admitting he's gay.    It would be international news and could break the fabric of a club."

Mr Akermanis' comments immediately attracted attention,   and the  33 year old  has faced strong criticism for alleging  the sport was not ready gay players.

His club has said it would not have approved the column if it had seen it prior to publication.
Proof that homophobia is alive and well in sport in Australia,  however,  things will change, but only  when more top sportsmen come out.

Jason Shaw


Jason's daily dose of love can be found at The Seafront Diaries.



© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw