British football has long ago shed relics of its past like chain smoking coaches, UFC-style tackles and way too short shorts. But there's still one thing holding the game back from … read moretruly entering the modern age: homophobia. Across the UK and Europe, its still common to hear homophobic chants and abuse being shouted during matches. And online, the hateful rhetoric only gets worse. That leads many in the UK to speculate that this is one of the main reasons England's Premier League, like most of the world's top football leagues, still has yet to see an openly gay or bisexual footballer in its ranks. Irish betting giant Paddy Power, who have a history of fighting homophobia in the sport, want to change that.
Agency: Officer&Gentleman, Madrid
And they think the best way to show the haters that they can’t keep LGBTQ players out of the game, is by showing that they’re already out in it. That’s why this weekend they walked in the UK’s largest pride parade, Brighton and Hove Pride, with Proud United, a symbolic team made up of LGBTQ footballers from across the country, and something the likes of which the parade has never seen in its 46 year history: The Game Changer, a 22 X 42 ft balloon, (roughly the size of a double decker bus and taller than two story house) that represents all LGBTQ footballers, our or not, that are changing the game every time they step onto the pitch. A symbol which, like these players, can’t be overlooked.
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