Kicking down barriers: gay footballers, challenging stereotypes and changing attitudes in amateur league play

Abstract

Recent years have seen much debate surrounding the lack of openly gay players in professional football, accompanied by growing speculation about when a gay player might emerge. The truth is that openly gay players have been participating in the sport for some time – at amateur levels. This paper looks at two teams – Dublin Devils FC and Glasgow’s Saltire Thistle FC – that compete in both gay leagues and tournaments and local recreational leagues against teams that would not identify as being gay-friendly. Both teams are therefore in the unique position of being able to more directly challenge stereotypes of gay athletes by contesting the perception that gay men are not masculine enough to show an interest in, let alone compete in certain sports. However, whilst openly gay men participating in the sport certainly have the power to disrupt ideas about masculinity and challenge homophobia within football, gay athletes do not necessarily present a challenge the gender order as a whole. Rather, by accepting the masculine norms surrounding sporting behaviour, and ‘playing straight’ whilst on the pitch, they in fact serve to strengthen the central tenets of masculine behaviour and reinforce the notion that in order to participate in sport, and win, you need to behave in certain ways. Through interviews with players and coaching staff, this paper explores this paradox, looking at the way in which gay players on the football pitch simultaneously disrupt and reinforce norms; their bodies caught up in a web of power that sees them both challenging the way in which gay masculinities are conceptualized and affirming the central tenets of orthodox sporting masculinities at the same time. It also argues that despite the very real benefits gay leagues can bring to both individual players and gay communities, it is players like these, who openly compete within ‘straight’ leagues, that offer the best opportunity for challenging stereotypes and opening up spaces for gay players at all levels of the sport.