Lianne Sanderson says gay players in men's football ‘do exist’ and explains why she thinks they don't come out

Virgin Radio

10 Jun 2024, 09:02

Former England footballer Lianne Sanderson joins Steve Denyer on Virgin Radio Pride to pick her personal playlist.

As well as selecting bangers from the likes of Beyonce and George Michael for My Pride Playlist, the talkSPORT pundit speaks to Steve about the lack of players in the men’s game who have come out.

When asked why this might be, the former Chelsea and Arsenal player says that it is “partly due to the fact that it wasn’t a protected environment. It still isn’t.”

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She tells Steve: “You saw Robbie Rogers, ten years ago or so, when he was in America and he was at Leeds, he felt that he had to retire to then come out. And then he came out of retirement briefly, because he needed to see what the reception was going to be like. And it was good. 

“You had Thomas Hitzlsperger. Now we’ve got Jake Daniels, Josh Cavallo.”

Regarding how these are the only players to have publically come out, she says: “It used to really kill me when people used to say, ‘I don’t want to come out because I’ll lose endorsements.’ Now, my philosophy is that if the companies don’t want me, you don’t deserve to have me. So, you either have all of me, or you have none of me. So, if you don’t want to sponsor me based upon me being gay, you don’t deserve me.

“Those types of conversations even came up in the women’s game back in the day.

“There is this stereotype in the women’s game that everyone’s gay, and in the men’s game, nobody’s gay. Both are not true.”

Continuing, the footy star says: “It’s what we’ve been taught from a young age on television, and the messaging that’s out there. You know, builders can’t be gay. Yes they can. But we’ve been taught that, when you’re a builder, you have a bog construction, you’re on a building site, you can’t be gay. Thankfully people are now realising that’s now true.”

On why more men haven’t come out, she explains: “They’ll put them on the front page of newspapers in a witness protection situation, ‘We know who you are.’ Imagine if that is you. I believe on teams, people know, I believe their teammates know. But it’s down to that person to come out when they want to.

“I’ve had friends who have had to lie about what they’ve done at the weekend, because they are not able to be who they are. And I don’t hold it against the men, because they have to deal with a lot more pressure. The eyes are on them.

“I think people are now realising words do matter, and your words at a game.” 

She added: “They do exist, gay players in the men’s game, but it’s up to them to come out when they feel like they can.” 

At Virgin Radio, we are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our audience wherever possible. We have compiled some useful LGBTQ+ focused resources to help point you in the right direction. For more information, visit virginradio.co.uk/help. 

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