A SCOTTISH referee has has come out as gay in a bid to change the culture in football.
Craig Napier becomes the first male openly gay figure on Scottish football pitches since Justin Fashanu, who played for Airdrie and Hearts in the mid-1990s several years after announcing his sexuality.
The move comes after Blackpool forward Jake Daniels recently became the first publicly out homosexual footballer since Fashanu.
“We need to see the climate change so that people feel they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin.” An important conversation with Category One referee Craig Napier. pic.twitter.com/bYygya2k23
— Scottish FA (@ScottishFA) June 2, 2022
In a video on the Scottish Football Association Twitter account, category one referee Napier said: “It’s something that I never thought I would be sat here doing. It’s something that I have obviously lived with for a long time.
"It has been a difficult journey to get to this point but over the last couple of years it has become a lot easier. I think it is really important that people like me are sitting and willing to do this.
"I don’t think this needs to be a news story but I think at the moment it really does.
"We need to see the climate change so that people do feel that they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin, and that needs to then transcend into football.
"I think that it has been really inspiring to see what has happened recently with Jake Daniels. It’s positive to see Jake at the age of 17 to announce his sexuality and I think many people have taken inspiration from that."
Napier was quickly followed by fellow referee Lloyd Wilson.
Wilson, who referees in Scotland’s lower leagues, talked about his sexuality in a video on the YouTube channel of mental health charity Back Onside.
We are proud that SPFL Referee Lloyd Wilson trusted Back Onside to help with his Mental Health and share his story with the wider Football community. Watch his full interview over on our YouTube channel with Sports Presenter @AlisonWalker_tv https://t.co/LjnVLOYsul pic.twitter.com/7vobzmHoev
— Back Onside (@BackOnside) June 2, 2022
When asked why he was speaking publicly now, Wilson said: “I think really the reason being that this has been a horrific journey, to be honest.
“A journey of maybe 17 years of living a life that I didn’t want to live, living a lie, living the way that other people maybe wanted me to live or that I thought other people wanted me to live. And probably dictated and directed in many ways by football.”
More to follow
