We have an update on Twitter’s anonymous closeted Footballer.
Earlier this month, a random Twitter account announced that it was being run by a champion athlete who planned to come out soon. As he wrote on Twitter:
“I’m a professional footballer, playing for a club in the @SkyBetChamp. I will be revealing my identity soon, but I am a proud gay man, hoping to break the mould. I am under the age of 23, and today I came out to my family. Soon, I will come out publicly. … Today I came out to my family. I have hid my sexuality for far too long. My family responded amazingly well, and other than a few close friends, they were the first to know.”
https://twitter.com/FootballerGay/status/1147530880254205952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1147530880254205952&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finstinctmagazine.com%2Fis-a-celebrated-footballer-about-to-come-out%2F
While there has been some question to the legitimacy of the situation, many publications and media sources have reported on the account’s existence and claims of coming out. Part of this mass interest in the account and topic is the fact that there are so few openly gay footballers in the international league.
There are currently no openly gay Premier League footballers. In the U.S. Collin Martin, a midfielder for Minnesota United, came out as gay in June 2018. He’s the only active professional gay athlete in all five major sports leagues.
As such, there are high amounts of skepticism and hope surrounding this supposed closeted player and his Twitter account. Not helping the matter, the athlete continues to say vaguely that he’s “coming out soon.” Though, the athlete expressed coming out to his family, his manager, and his club’s chairman. And now, the athlete has delivered a date when he’ll (hopefully) reveal his identity and come out as gay.
In the tweet below, he expresses that July 24th is the big day.
https://twitter.com/FootballerGay/status/1152904677069066240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1152904677069066240&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.towleroad.com%2F2019%2F07%2Fprofessional-gay-footballer%2F
So, will this actually be a big name athlete coming out? (Or another Justin Beiber burrito incident). Will his action inspire other closeted athletes to come out? We’ll find out in only two days.
I am not holding my breath. The public has been down this road with so many other anonymous “high-profile” celebrities saying how they will come out and they never do. I have a feeling his handlers/PR team will convince him to stay in the closet.
Still, I hope I’m wrong.