English footballâ┚¬â€Âor soccer to Yankeesâ┚¬â€Âmust be more accepting to gay players, according to former Chelsea captain Grame le Saux.
The 43-year-old said he endured years of taunts from opposition fans and other players about his sexuality, even though he's heterosexual. Rumors erupted because he distanced himself from the typical playboy lifestyle of a typical footballer.
The years of jibes came to a head in 1999, when he reacted to provocative comments from England team-mate Robbie Fowler by elbowing him in the head. Both players were reprimanded by the Football Association for the incident at the time.
There have been no openly gay footballers in England since former Norwich and Nottingham Forest forward Justin Fashanu, who came out in 1990 but committed suicide in 1998.
And Le Saux feels that more must be done to improve tolerance of sexuality in the game.
“The important thing isn’t whether or not there are gay players in professional football,” Le Saux told BBC Radio Jersey. “The point is that the environment is such that if they are, they feel that they can achieve and the profession will support them. At the moment I still don’t think that’s there.â┚¬ÂÂ
