![]() “The effects of outings gay footballers will go far beyond football.”Īfter years of torment and secrecy, Urban’s coming out proved to be a turning point. Then players, officials, coaches, referees and so many others will follow. Associations and clubs can come out as ‘gay-friendly’. “It is a great opportunity for the football world to show now that it is ready. Pauli placed itself on the front line of football’s battle with homophobia during a match with Paderborn.įans of the club, formerly run by openly gay president Corny Littmann, staged a demonstration against discrimination which included brightly-colored posters and a banner reading, “Football is everything – even gay.”īasketballer Jason Collins recently made history by becoming the first openly gay NBA player, while the NHL has drawn plaudits for its anti-homophobia work.įifteen years on from Fashanu’s suicide, with other sports such as rugby and basketball setting a precedent and with the NFL reportedly closer than ever to having a homosexual player, is the beautiful game ready for a high-profile gay star? Her comments came following an article in a German magazine in which an anonymous gay Bundesliga player said the fear of added media attention was the reason why he hadn’t announced his sexuality. Speaking at a sports forum in Berlin last September, German chancellor Angela Merkel urged gay players to feel confident enough to “come out.” He had become the first £1 million black player when he joined Nottingham Forest in 1981. ![]() The Englishman committed suicide in 1998, aged 37 – just eight years after announcing that he was gay. Justin Fashanu’s tragic story is the last time a top-flight player has been so open. ![]() “He found it interesting that I was gay, I was one of his best friends on the team.”Ĭompared to other areas of society, the football profession is statistically lacking in openly gay players.įormer United States national team player Robbie Rogers recently announced he was gay on the same day he retired from the sport, while Sweden-based Anton Hysen is currently the only openly “out” player in Europe. “I told only one player, in Weimar at the end of my career – and precisely for this reason,” said Urban. When it became clear he was in the twilight of his playing career, Urban finally summoned the courage to open up to one of his teammates following a switch to provincial club SC 1903 Weimar in 1991. “The fear and pain robbed me of my energy because I was constantly thinking of what to say, how to act so people might think I was heterosexual.” But what if you hide 24 hours a day because you are gay? You need the will, physical fitness, good luck and a tough mentality. I chose freedom over a constructed prison. “I realized that if I became a professional footballer, I would suffer as a man. “By my early 20s I was burned out,” he said. Urban went on to make over 100 appearances for Rot-Weiss’ senior team in the German second division.īut rather than marking the start of his rise to the top of German football, Urban’s spell in Erfurt proved to be the peak of a career cut short by fear, insecurity and self-loathing. His reputation was growing and he was called up to East Germany’s youth team in 1986. He trained twice a day with his new team and looked capable of achieving his ambition of playing for the German national team, winning a youth championship with Rot-Weiss in 1985. Urban’s love affair with football began in 1978, when he joined East German club Motor Weimar at the age of seven before moving to Rot-Weiss Erfurt in 1984. Read: Seven moments which defined Alex Ferguson What is going on?’ Nobody was there to help me.” “I kept thinking, ‘I cannot do this anymore, I don’t want to. “Constantly hearing gay used as a curse word like s**t, made me think, ‘Of course, I’m s**t.’ I spent 50% of my energy trying to hide, so a maximum of 50% of my energy was available for football. “It was an almost unbearable pain, a great sacrifice, a painful price to pay to achieve my goal of becoming a professional footballer. “I hid 24 hours a day, I adjusted,” explained Urban, who was terrified of being “outed” in a sport which today has just one openly gay professional player in Europe. On the surface he was a rising football star, but beneath he was a man coming to terms with his homosexuality. The young midfielder, born and raised in East Germany in the 1970s and 80s in the days before reunification with West Germany in 1990, dreamed of representing his country – but he was living an exhausting double life. It has always been my first love and it will remain forever.”īut, as is the case with so many first loves, Urban’s left him with a heartbreak which was almost too much to bear. “To play soccer basically means to rejoice in life,” Urban told CNN.
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