Footballing world meet Jason Collins. On 29th April 2013, the 34-year old, 12 year profe sional basketball player became the openly gay active athlete in the four major sports (Baseball, American Football, Ice Hockey and Basketball) in the USA. Collins took the leap by writing his own article in Sports Illustrated giving him a chance to tell his story. He was over-loaded with support from fans, celebrities and profe sionals alike with only a few negative comments being given the chance to gain a few ratings for networks. Consensus seems to be that (even though that it does not really work like this) this could not have happened to a better person. Collins is has been lauded by coaches and players, even before he came out, as a fantastic profe sional who played for the benefit of the team. His style of play also went away from the stereotype; his aggre sive and physical style was often deployed as a defensive specialist for other physically dominant players. He is listed at 7-foot weighing 16 stone. Jason Collins has paved the way for other athletes in American sports, but how about in the Premier League (PL)?A survey in 2010 suggested that 5% of the UK population is Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual (LGB). If figures from the London Olympics are to be believed only 0.17% of athletes are openly gay. Out of 12,602 athletes, 21 were openly gay with 18 of these being women. This figure is likely to be some way off the mark as this only took into account publicly open homosexuals. Similarly, gay dating application, Grindr, crashed within hours of the athletes arriving which cannot be considered a coincidence. Homosexuality Mike Onwenu Jersey rate in sports at the elite level have been considered to be different to that of the general public, with female homosexuality increasing and male homosexuality decreasing, so while it may not be as high as 5%, I refute any claims that it would be as low at 0.17%. Conservatively settling on 2% could be seen as rational.If we a sume that each PL team has approximately 50 players contracted then an estimate of 1,000 profe sional footballers would be reasonable. If 2% where gay then this would suggest that there are 20 gay footballers in the PL. There have been a few a sumptions but 1 in every 50 does not appear to be upon the realms of po sibility. Max Clifford, PR advisor, claims to have at had at least two high-profile football clients come to him about being homosexual/bisexual although he advised them not to make it public and he believed that it would had a negative impact on their career.Is the PL ready for an openly gay footballer? There has been a precedent set with Justin Fashanu coming out in 1990 but he struggled with the backlash he received. Fashanu committed suicide in 1998 after allegations of sexual a sault pushed him to the brink. So, 23 years later, would there be the same sort of backlash?Us football fans follow our teams like a religion and back them to the hilt, some will speak ill of management decisions, players performances etc but we are allowed to as a fan. If another fan starts to pick on our team then we can be a bit touchy and get Jake Bailey Jersey a bit protective. There is a slight difference between the National Basketball A sociation (NBA) and the Premier League; NBA teams are not supported to the extent that Premier League teams are. There is no segregation of away fans there is usually no away following. The size of the country is po sibly part of the reason and that every state does not have its own team. There are only 30 teams and 50 states with some of these states having two or more teams; of these quite a few have relocated to different markets e.g. Minnesota Lakers becoming Los Angeles Lakers. The amount of games in a season (82) makes lo ses easier to take as one game only counts towards 1.22% of your season whereas in the PL, one game is 2.63% of your season. When it comes to championships, teams play a series which is the best out of seven; on the other hand, football teams often get one chance or maybe two in replays or two-legged series. There is also a lot le s hatred for individual players, often reserved for the very best but verbal abuse from the fans is frowned upon from the media with personal insults being labelled as too far.Does the PLs following make for a difficult environment for a player considering telling the world hes gay?We can think about how fans at games and on the internet react when a player dives, gets another player sent off, scores a goal, puts in a made tackle, legitimately wins a penalty this list is endle s. Twitter will explode over every decision, fans will sing songs about personal busine s and trolls will have a field Ben Mason Jersey day. Recently there has been an outburst of anonymous or hacked accounts racially abusing players just because they can. Chelsea fans have been cited as signing racially motivated songs about Anton Ferdinand as they get behind their captain, John Terry. Songs filled with hatred and vitriol are used as weapons to get one over your opponent.The recent articles about gay footballers from Max Clifford, Anders Lindegaard, Gareth Southgate and The Guardians Secret Footballer allude to the fans attitude being the problem and this is what is inhibiting the first player from taking that giant leap forward.Would the sexual orientation of a footballer be a target? Hands up who has heard homophobic language being used at a football match? I know I have and I am still disappointed with myself for not pulling up a fellow support and telling him that it was not acceptable.Personally, I believe that it would depend on the player and the club he plays for. I think the bigger the player and club, then the more venom he could attract. The exception could be that if the player was a veteran who was widely respected by opposition fans however there are not that many. Max Clifford thought along similar lines when he thought that if a player was going to come out then: Max would envisage theyd be a hard man, with an established reputation, and perhaps a year or two at most left in the game, so if coming out brought too much hardship, it wouldnt matter so much profe sionally.If player x was a defender and he made a mistake, scored an own goal, would some of his fans turn on him? If he was a midfielder who went into a 50-50 tackle in a big match but pulled out last second would he be targeted from both sets of fans? How about a striker who took a tumble in the box, getting the defender sent-off and receiving a penalty would the opposition fans go to town on him? Whether these fans are homophobic in their everyday lives or not, the pa sion we have for our teams makes us irrational in what we say and do.Up to now a lot of focus has been put on how the fans would react but how about the players? Are they going to feel uncomfortable being naked around a gay player, sharing a dre sing room or being a sociated with them for fear of a sumption? Does mindle s banter between players and friends all of a sudden become off limits to them?What happens in the locker room stays in the locker room, and unlike American sports journalism Quinn Nordin Jersey the media does not get a look inside as much. The Guardians Secret Footballer does not seem to think that a player would have much of a problem with coming out to his team-mates, and neither does Max Clifford who said that: There are gay players in the top division in English football, and some of them are out to their clubs and team-mates and nobody gives a jot and for that matter, neither does Anders Lindegaard who wrote in a blog post: My impre sion is that the players would not have a problem accepting a homosexual. There have been some recent cases of players tweeting homophobic me sages, Federico Macheda, Ravel Morrison, Nile Ranger being amongst the culprits.From what we can see, the dre sing room may not be a problem as tolerance for individual difference seems to be there and those who do have a problem will soon learn to deal with it or go elsewhere.Attitude of fellow profe sionals and fans are two sides to the story but there is a third and rarely thought about side the commercial side. So the clubs want the attention? How about the stereotypical supporters as a whole, and how they consume the game? More often than not now, there is a Sky Sports and ESPN subscription from fans to watch the games, but if they feel like his game is being taken over, the masculinity on the sport compromised then will the revenue continue to flow? Modern day football is about money, if a gay footballer would slow cash flow then would they be supre sed.The other side to this is that sponsors may want their name on a sociated with an openly gay footballer as the media attention would be great exposure for them and the individual could be offered a lot of money to tell his story, front campaigns etc.Is the PL ready for an openly gay player? Is the player ready for the potential storm that could be opened upon him? Could fans be able to put their difference aside and not target his personal life? I am not so sure but whoever takes the bold leap, whoever they play for, I will support and respect them. I hope but to not expect for other fans to do the same, just like some find it now acceptable to racially abuse via twitter, some and potentially more will do the same for homophobic abuse.When Anders Lindegaard said that the game is in need of a gay hero he was absolutely right, that first person needs to be seen as a hero and Byron Cowart Jersey we the fans need to give him that status and let it be known that any gay footballers needs not hide, can be open and not feel like they will be abused. We can make it happenWritten by Ru sell WareingReferences: Thanks for the contribution from: Carys Brookes and Harry Hugo