They didn't give a specific number. The host suggested there might be 20 or so gay/bi players, the academic didn't object. I finished the podcast more downcast than ever.
AFL Players
- Thread starter flagday
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Dark chocolate heaven.
![Screenshot_20241011-204431~2.png]( "Screenshot_20241011-204431~2.png")
Thanks for sharing. Up to ep 3 this is really good.
I came away from listening to the series with the view a professional male sports team is the most hostile workplace for gay men in Australia.
I'd like to know why the league has wholeheartedly embraced lesbians/non-binary players in the AFLW but won't even discuss gay male players. Jeremy Finlayson calls someone a f*ggot and the first thing they get him to do is apologise to Port Adelaide's AFLW team. Utterly clueless.
DaicosDaddies
Cherished Member
Because no gay male players want to come out publicly.
You just can't compare demographics from female to male sport. Females have been openly gay playing sport for so long it would be impossible to have a female sports league without them.
These problems start before anyone gets to the AFL. It starts in the teen years in puberty, where homophobia, even if only casual, is still rife as it's ever been, and these are the people that end up in the AFL.
Can confirm.
I went to a private school in Melbourne with quite a few players now in the AFL. You're right that homophobia is rife in teen years but especially in these privileged, male-centric, heteronormal, Catholic-leaning circles that soooo many AFL players come from. And unfortunately I know most of those players were guilty of that homophobia (as well as vile misogyny), and they were just instances I witnessed myself. Who knows what else they said or did that I have no idea about.
But there were also a few who never showed anything but kindness and compassion towards the gay guys at our school, as well as anyone who was considered 'different' for whatever reason. I hope that if there are gay AFL players, that they have managed to end up on the same teams as these few guys, because I know they would be great allies. It's that thought that gives me some hope...
I'm not disputing any of that. The podcast we were discussing confirmed there are gay players in the AFL and league administrators know they exist. The academic who conduced the research had access to 17/18 clubs. My question remains the same. Why is the AFL hesitant to address homophobia inside their workplace? Coming out publicly is irrelevant.
In a nutshell... because addressing and possibly taking action against homophobia within AFL clubs would mean trouble for some of the league's best and most marketable players. Same reason their drug policy allowed many players to get away with positive test results under the guise of "protecting their wellbeing."
Can we get back to posting hot pics
I would think one of the first things to do would be ask a homosexual person in the club how the situation can be addressed and rectified, but there are none. We see this with racial issues, every club has an Aboriginal person and a multicultural person too to manage these things. There's not a single gay man involved in any footy operations in the AFL, and until there is and it's open it's just those private school boys tripping over their own feet doing the minimum to address it.
