Eight Players in the Locker Room Closet

From The Guardian: 

At least eight professional footballers have revealed to colleagues that they are gay, but have refused to go public because they fear a backlash from fans. 

This latest evidence that British football remains a homophobic environment comes after Jason Collins, a high-profile American basketball star, became the first player from a US professional sports league to reveal that he was gay.

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Earlier this year, Robbie Rogers, an American playing for Leeds United, left the club by "mutual consent" after announcing that he was gay. Rogers, 25, said at the time that remaining in football after declaring that you were gay was "impossible". Last week it emerged that he had left England and was training with the Los Angeles Galaxy football team in the US. 

Gay campaigners told the Observer that Clarke Carlisle, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, had revealed that eight players had approached him to disclose that they were gay. Seven told him that the reason they would not reveal their sexual orientation publicly was not the reaction from the dressing room or club, but the potential reaction from the media and supporters. Chris Basiurski, chair of the Gay Football Supporters' Network, said that, although progressive attitudes had begun to infiltrate the dressing room, the fear of how supporters would react remained a problem...