Patrice Evra is talking to Le Parisien concerned about the homophobic culture in the football world. The former left back of Manchester United and Juventus, among others, says he played together with several gay footballers, who did not dare to come out openly. Evra also claims that there are at least two players per club with such a sexual preference.
“When I was in England,” Evra says, “one day someone came over to talk to the team about homosexuality. Some of my colleagues said, ‘It’s against my religion. If there’s a gay man in the locker room, please let him go.’ At that point I said, ‘Everybody shut up. Do you have any idea what you’re saying?'” It’s unclear at this point whether Evra is referring to his time at Manchester United or West Ham United. The back played in Manchester between 2006 and 2014, before coming to London in 2018 after periods with Juventus and Olympique Marseille.
The 81-time French international believes that the football world still has a long way to go. “I played with players who were gay. They told me face to facebecause they were too afraid of that. There are at least two players per club who are gay. But if you admit that in the football world, it’s done.”
A-League player Cavallo comes out: ‘Proud to be gay’
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??????? Our football belongs to everyone ?? https://t.co/55voU4UpZv
— KNVB (@KNVB) October 27, 2021
Josh Cavallo became the first professional soccer player to come out openly last October. The Adelaide United defender has long struggled with feelings of shame about his sexuality, he said in a video shared by his club. “I had to mask my feelings to fit the mold of a professional football player.” With his coming out, Cavallo wanted to set an example for the football world and ‘make other gay players feel that they are not alone’.
Last Sunday it once again became clear that there is still a long way to go in football. Cavallo came on as a substitute in the away game against Melbourne Victory (1-1) and got homophobic slogans shouted at him by the crowd. “There are no words to describe how disappointed I am,” Cavallo wrote in a statement on Twitter. “This should not be accepted and we need to do more to hold these people accountable. Hate will never win. I will never apologize for the truth and who I am outside of football.”
— Josh Cavallo (@JoshuaCavallo) January 9, 2022
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