Gay footballer long way off: Dogs’ skipper

Wide World of Sports

Western Bulldogs’ captain Robert Murphy believes the AFL’s first openly gay footballer may be years away from revealing himself for fear of sparking a media circus.

The AFL has made significant strides to tone down the sport’s once-proud masculine image, staging its inaugural Gay Pride Round last season.

Despite the statistical improbability of all 700-plus AFL-listed players being straight, no elite footballer in AFL/VFL history has declared otherwise.

Murphy said potential « sensationalist interest » surrounding an AFL player opening up to talk about their sexuality would be a daunting prospect.

« I can only talk for my own footy club but I just don’t think it’s fair to put it at the feet of the club and the locker-room nature of footy clubs, » Murphy told SEN radio on Wednesday.

« It’s obviously a complex issue but the media storm that waits I feel is just as big, if not a bigger factor in what might hold people back. »

Murphy, who missed the Bulldogs’ drought-breaking premiership last year with a season-ending knee injury, said the demands of being a professional athlete were great enough without the added pressure of becoming a gay icon.

« A lot of footballers who are gay want to be recognised as a footballer first, not as the first person to come out and openly talk about the fact they are gay, » he said.

« The fact we are having this conversation still says to me that we have a long way to go.

« The first player to come out as gay, he may not want to become a spokesman for it and if he’s the first one, he probably will be or people will want him to be. »

Last week, AFL Women’s players Penny Cula-Reid (Collingwood) and Mia-Rae Clifford (Melbourne) revealed they were in a long-term relationship.

More than 20 years ago, NRL star Ian Roberts became the first professional sportsman in Australia to publicly acknowledge he was gay.

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