Thanks for your leadership, Jake Daniels: a gay man and professional footballer

Well played, Jake Daniels. Applause, please. And thank you for your leadership. Football, sport, male environments and, indeed, the wider world have all become slightly more sane places with the news that Daniels has decided to discuss publicly the fact that he is not only a professional footballer but a gay man.

The first part of this is, of course, not remarkable. The second part is. To those unfamiliar with football’s internal workings it might seen genuinely loopy that this should even be news, that a trailblazer is required, and indeed that this should turn out to be a teenager who made his debut for Blackpool two weeks ago. But make no mistake this is both a remarkable moment for men’s professional football and a sterling show of courage from a 17‑year‑old, yet to establish himself in his industry; but unwilling, as he says, “to pretend”.

For men’s football – and indeed men’s sport, professional and amateur – this is the sound of a wall being torn down. It is 32 years since Justin Fashanu became the first and until now only male British professional footballer to come out as gay, in his case via a salacious newspaper splash. Fashanu played on for seven years in various leagues, but he suffered terribly at the hands of his sport, his family and the wider public.

Thomas Hitzlsperger, a Premier League player and German international, revealed in retirement that he is gay. The Australian Josh Cavallo came out last year, aged 22, and is playing regularly for Adelaide United in the A-League. Beyond this women’s sports have shown the way on this front. Openly gay players and indeed managers are a part of the everyday landscape in women’s football. The England women’s cricket team has a long-term couple in it.

Men’s