At the start of the week, Blackpool FC player Jake Daniels came out as gay making him the first active professional player to come out publicly since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
In a confident statement, the 17-year-old said he felt that ‘now is the right time to do it’, and was ready for people to know the real him. “I’ve known my whole life that I’m gay,” the footballer said. “I now feel that I’m ready to come out and be myself.”
The move, which was championed by the likes of Gary Neville and Man United's David de Gea, came following a successful season where Jake scored more than 30 goals and made his professional debut in the Championship. Making the announcement on Monday, Jake told Sky Sports: “I have been thinking for a long time about how I want to do it, when I want to do it. I know now is the time. I am ready to be myself, be free and be confident with it all.
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"I can't really put a date on it, but I was probably five or six years old when I knew I was gay. So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie. At that age you don't really think that football and being gay doesn't mix."
It’s something that many LGBTQ+ people can relate to. Having first started in February 1996, Village Manchester FC is now the oldest inclusive club in the world. The club prides itself on welcoming anyone who loves football.
For players like Kevin Robinson, having a club like VMFC has served as a lifeline and a chance to show that you can be gay and play football. “I’ve always loved football from a young age and I played football while I was at school,” Kevin, 32, tells the Manchester Evening News.
“But when I came out at the age of 16, I didn’t really feel comfortable with it anymore and stopped playing. I just didn’t feel like I fit into that very masculine environment, I didn’t feel like I could be myself.”
It was only since the lockdown that Kev has been able to reignite his love for the ‘beautiful game’ and take his passion seriously again. “I spent my whole 20s wishing I could play football but it never really entered my consciousness that I could play football and be gay at the same time.
“I found out about Village Manchester and was taken aback by how these two separate worlds existed together. It made me realise that I can play football in an environment that was safe and inclusive and with people who were just look like. I’ve jumped in and I’ve never looked back, really.
“It’s a cliché but joining Village Manchester has been the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s given me so much purpose and focus and it’s allowed me to fall back in love with football.
“Before joining, I didn’t know a single gay football fan. Now I'm surrounded by LGBTQ+ football fans and players and it’s really helped expand my social circle with people like me. I went through a very long time where I felt distant from the sport because I didn’t feel connected or included with it. Joining Village Manchester has made me want to be involved in it more and felt more connected with it than ever before.”
Kevin describes Jake’s coming out as a historic movement not just for football in general, but for LGBTQ+ players and fans - particularly because of how confident he’s been about it at such a young age. “I think his age is huge,” he adds.
“Coming out at that age is absolutely terrifying in itself but coming out to the world at just 17 is monumental. It shows that he’s obviously super brave and confident to do that and I feel that by him doing that it gives other people the confidence that it’s safe to do that. It shows that he has such a huge support network behind him who have made him feel safe and welcomed to do so.”
Kevin, from Burnley, thinks back to his own situation back at school where he felt that being his authentic self conflicted with his passion for football. He explains: “If I had someone like Jake come out when I was struggling with finding the balance between my identity and football, that would have been massive for me.
“The reaction from most people has been universally fantastic. In some ways, the reaction feels more important to me. It’s shown that there is so much positivity around it and that it is okay to be LGBTQ+ in football and that it doesn’t have to be an issue.”
When coming out, Jake said he was inspired by Adelaide United's Josh Cavallo, the only current top-flight male professional footballer to come out as gay, as an inspiration behind his decision to speak out. Seeing the reaction to the Australian players’ news helped him feel confident and hopeful in making his own decision.
Kev says he expects Jake’s announcement to have a similar effect now too. “It shows that the reaction to this can have a massive impact and can help encourage others to feel safe,” he adds.
“I think being the first to come out is a huge responsibility because the focus is always going to fall on you, but I feel this will only make it ten times easier for the next person and so forth. We will eventually get to a point where there’s hardly any focus because it’s just not a big deal anymore.
“Jake coming out is a huge deal and it’s just helping to normalise the fact that LGBTQ+ people can play football. I think the fact that we’ve had two players come out who have a long career ahead of them in such a short space of time is really positive. Maybe it’s not going to be another 30 years before we see someone else feel confident in coming out.”
For James Cole, Chair of Village Manchester FC, he too feels that Jake has already made an impact on the future of football in just the space of a couple of days. “The fact that someone so young has come out and feels they are going to be fine is just fantastic,” James says. “It only needed one person to open the door.
“20 years ago when I was at school, I didn’t feel comfortable coming out until two years after I left - between now and then is like night and day in terms of general acceptance. The new generation is more and more progressive and the FA have worked really quite hard to reduce homophobia and racism in the game, but there’s still more to be done.
“There’s always going to be a vocal minority who will react badly to this and can’t accept it. But there’s been a lot of work in the background to build the foundations for someone to come out in football and be supported. It’s not just thanks to the FA and the clubs, there’s charities like Stonewall who have been doing such important work.”
When James joined the club eight years ago, he says Village Manchester was completely different to what it is today and that shows that progress is being made both on and off the pitch. “When I first joined we had one and a half teams and players were having to double up in games in the morning and evening,” he explains. “Now we’ve got six teams with five of those playing in the FA League next season.
“In an ideal world, clubs that specifically cater towards gay (players) should cease to exist but there will always be a need for these types of clubs. There will always be gay and inclusive football clubs, but the idea that a really talented footballer can get ahead without any fear is what we’ve all been fighting to achieve for so many years.
“Just having the general awareness that there are LGBTQ+ players on a national level is a huge deal. It’s inspirational to see.”
Village Manchester FC are looking for new players to join their team. Visit their website for more information.
