Championship footballer comes out and becomes only openly gay professional footballer in Britain

A Championship footballer has come out as gay, making him the first current professional footballer in Britain to do so.

Blackpool forward Jake Daniels, seventeen, said he has received ‘amazing support’ from his teammates after opening up about his sexuality. 

In an interview with Sky Sports News today, Daniels said his original plan was to wait until he had retired before coming out, but says he felt ready to ‘be myself’ after ‘such a long time of lying’ about who he is.

He said: “But I just knew that was just such a long time of just lying and not being able to have what I want.

“For a long time I’ve thought I would have to hide my truth because I wanted to be, and now I am, a professional footballer. I asked myself if I should wait until I’ve retired to come out. No other player in the professional game here is out.

“However, I knew that would lead to a long time of lying and not being able to be myself or lead the life that I want to.

“Since I’ve come out to my family, my club and my teammates, that period of overthinking everything and the stress it created has gone. It was impacting my mental health.

“Now I am just confident and happy to be myself finally.”

Daniels said he knew he was gay at around the age of five or six, but admitted that he initially believed football and being gay didn’t mix.

He explained: “So all the way through my life I was like, ‘It’s fine, you’ll get a girlfriend when you’re older and you’ll change and it’ll be fine’.

“And as you do get older you realise you just can’t… and it’s just something you won’t be able to do.

“I’ve had girlfriends in the past to try and make all my mates think I’m straight, and it was just a massive cover-up. So it has been a struggle.”

And speaking of when he first told his teammates, Daniels said they were ‘kind of shocked in a way’ and asked why he didn’t tell them earlier.

He said: “The captain was one of the main people I told and he was just asking loads of questions about it and was like ‘I’m so proud of you’.”

He added: “Everyone has been so supportive and so proud of me and it just shows what a bond we have as a team and everyone is like a family to each other.”

Daniels is the first British male professional footballer to come out as gay since Justin Fashanu in 1990.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzelsperger also came out as gay after his retirement in 2013.