Local filmmaker insight into being gay in the world of football – Newry.ie
Last weekends inaugural Newry Sports Film Festival featured a short film from Whitecross film maker John Reavey that asked the question “Why are there no openly gay footballers?”
The film follows the story of 22 year old Alex who lives in London but was born in Colombia. Alex plays for London Titans and the video documents what it means for him playing football and being gay.
The topic proved a great talking point at the festival and many questions were directed to Reavey who recently made the decision to come out as gay himself. In answering, the young film maker reflected not only on the football aspect but on his own journey too.
With Belfast Pride happening tomorrow, 30 July it’s an appropriate time to discuss the issue and Reavey is very conscious of being in a position as a film maker where he may be able to help someone who is struggling with their sexuality, whether a sports player or not.
The short film was actually created as a university project and it was brought to the attention of football community content creater COPA90.
It was quite a conondrum. When you’re producing a media project you really want to get as much exposure as you can, but on the other hand when you are hiding a secret it’s not that simple. As Reavey explains “I had never told anyone about myself and I created this piece and COPA90 said, ‘Well John we’ve got your Class project, we’re about to show this to our 2 million subscribers on YouTube’ – and there was a part of me saying, I don’t actually want you to release this because my name is attached to a project that has the word gay in the title. People from home might see I have done this and make assumptions about it, and I was terrified, even though I’m not even in the bloody thing.”
The Whitecross man believes that there is still such a long way to go even though 17 year old Blackpool Footballer Jake Daniels coming out had a massive impact, with many major footballers giving him support. Daniels is an Academy player and the further you climb the footballing ladder the harder it is to make that call.
Reavey explains ” I think anyone in the top league who’s currently playing are going to struggle because having worked in the game and seeing behind the scenes at clubs, agents and managers of players can be really particular with their ‘brand’ image.”
“A coach needs to understand that they have so much impact on a player. It’s really easy for a coach to feel like, the lads are coming to play football and go home but the reality is, like my coach, I look up to him and what he says. When I’m low in confidence I almost rely on him to get me back up to be back on the pitch again. It’s trying to understand your players on and off the pitch if possible.”
“I never felt comfortable coming out when I was growing up in Whitecross. All my mates, none of them were LGBT, not one. We all joked in the dressing room but it was the stage where it didn’t feel like jokes anymore. I’m all for banter, I love ripping into anybody because I think everything should be joked about in the right light but I definitely think growing up in a toxic masculine environment, it was probably the stage where it was borderline homophobia and that definitely made me feel uncomfortable so I think it’s just as a manager, putting those things in place.”
Reavey thinks it seems to be more accepted for women footballers and there are many ‘out’ league players and that toxic masculinity is a big issue in the mens sport. “I think theyr’e definitely on a better wavelength than the mens game”
“If you’re a young girl growing up or if you’re a fan of the women’s sport, if you are seeing that the best player in the game is gay and has a girlfriend who also is one of the best players, that’s going to make you feel comfortable in yourself and I think that’s what the mens game is lacking. There’s no one to look at.”
I feel like in Newry, especially in the local area everyone knows everyone so it’s not even the case if you go and you play for a team in England – you maybe tell a couple of your team mates, and its not going to get any further.
“Being from the local area, everyone knows everyones business and the second there is any spread of a rumour regardless of what it is, it’s quickly spread about whether it’s true or false.
One thing I had to come to terms with about myself is that I had it very under control in my early stages. I first started understanding my own sexuality about 16 or 17 and I was telling select people I could count on my fingers, and then my other friends started finding out without me knowing and the fact that I lost control of it was wrecking me, I was really struggling mentally, it was such a task but the reality is that once you rip that plaster off and you actually say, I’m going to accept this, everybody that wants to come at me, come ahead. It’s the same with anything, when you have any sort of insecurity in life.” he said.
To make positive change Reavey believes it’s people at the top level of their sport who will make the biggest difference for people trying to deal with their sexuality within a sporting context. “I think it’s about the top level showing that representation, because when we look at something like swimming and Tom Daly the top tier performer there is openly gay. The second anyone that’s younger than him comes out, it’s like aw well that’s cool, and it also doesn’t define who you are because you have seen someone go to that top level who is like you, whereas when anyone comes out who is part of the community and not that top level there’s always that doubt, for example Jake Daniels, oh can you get to the top level now that you’re gay. People will always think that and it’s about someone at the top level representing the community and showing it can be done.”