Jake Daniels

The 17-year-old forward made the announcement at the end of his first season as a professional player with second division club Blackpool.

Wouldn’t it be great if we got to a place where we didn’t have to use the words ‘guts & courage’ to describe someone being comfortable being themselves.” One of the most prominent gay athletes in Britain is Olympic diving champion Tom Daley who inspired former England soccer captain Casey Stoney to come out in 2014. I hate knowing people are in the same situation I was in. “This is a hugely positive step as we strive to build an inclusive game that we can all be proud of,” the governing body tweeted. “This season has been a fantastic one for me on the pitch,” he said in a statement. The Justin Fashanu Foundation calls him the “world’s first openly gay professional footballer.”

Blackpool forward Jake Daniels has become the UK's first male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay since Justin Fashanu.

Adam Crafton In school people even used to ask me: 'Are you sure you aren't gay?'. And I would reply, 'No, I'm not'. “At that age you don't really think that football and being gay doesn't mix. So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie. He has scored 30 goals for the club’s under-19 team this season. I want people to know the real me.

Jake Daniels has become the first professional soccer player in the UK since 1990 to publicly come out as gay. The Blackpool forward been widely praised.

So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie. "I have been thinking for a long time about how I want to do it, when I want to do it. I want people to know the real me."

LONDON (Reuters) - Blackpool forward Jake Daniels announced on Monday that he is gay, becoming the first active male British professional soccer playe...

So shout what you want, it’s not going to make a difference.” I think it comes down to how a lot of footballers want to be known for their masculinity,” said Daniels. “People see being gay as being weak, something you can be picked on for on the football field.

"I've hated lying my whole life," Blackpool FC's new recruit Jake Daniels said Monday in a statement, becoming the first U.K. men's soccer player to come ...

"So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie," Daniels said. "It's an easy thing for people to target," he admitted. You just think, 'One day, when I'm older I'll get a girlfriend and I will change and it will be fine,'" he added. "You being you, and being happy, is what matters most." "I want to be a role model myself by doing this." "I've been hiding the real me and who I really am," Daniels wrote.

Josh Cavallo has said it is a 'wonderful feeling' knowing his story helped Jake Daniels become the UK's first male professional footballer to come out as ...

“It’s touching to see the millions of people that my story has impacted and inspired around the world, and to see it help evolve the world game at all levels, is fantastic. Thomas Hitzlsperger of Germany is arguably the most high profile, although, like the American former Leeds player Robbie Rogers, he waited until after retirement to reveal his sexuality publicly. “It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that my story has helped guide Jake to be his true self.

This is a big story. In less than 24 hours, the young footballer has become a household name; written about on the front pages, discussed on morning television, ...

Daniels is the player who scored four goals in a youth fixture the day after telling his mother and sister. He is a 17-year-old playing in the second tier of English football who only recently signed his first professional contract. A young man who, before Monday, few would have heard of. Daniels alone cannot change that. Fashanu played on for seven years but, aged 37, he took his own life. "I am ready to be myself," said Daniels in his statement, before adding it was a "step into the unknown."

Don't Say 'Who Cares' — Blackpool Player Coming Out Is A Big Deal ... Blackpool's Jake Daniels is the first male footballer in England to come out in more than 30 ...

Our audience is proof there remains a large number of vocal men’s football fans who are bigots, who have yet to realize or refuse to recognize LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. “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,” Daniels said. “The whole football community must continue to work to make our game an environment where all those involved feel safe and supported, and where they feel comfortable when choosing how to tell their own stories. So shout what you want, it’s not going to make a difference.” Millwall fans have booed anti-racism messages; how will they react to Jake Daniels existing as a gay footballer? Daniels follows in the footsteps of a small group of players before him who have come out and in doing so faced abuse from soccer fans. “Off the pitch I’ve been hiding the real me and who I really am,” Daniels said on the Blackpool website. He has the complete support of everyone at the PFA,” the Professional Footballers’ Association said in a statement. “There are people out there in the same space as me that may not feel comfortable revealing their sexuality. The immediate response to Daniels’ announcement has been largely positive. Blackpool forward Jake Daniels announced he is gay on Monday, becoming the first active male professional British footballer to do so since 1990. The last to do so?

"Just seeing someone like you on the pitch" is so important for LGBTQ+ fans, says Pride in Football.

It is so exciting and we want to invite him to Pride Blackpool on 11 June." "What a great character he must be to be so open and I'm certain he will go on to be a great player for the Seasiders." "From a Blackpool fan point of view hopefully it gives him the freedom in his own mind to fulfil his ability and go on and be a really top player." "It is absolutely amazing. "Blackpool fans will have no issues whatsoever and will welcome him as a great future for our great club," he said. He said his announcement had come at the end of a "fantastic" season.

Jake Daniels' decision to come out will allow more men in professional football to be open about their sexuality, according to Simone Pound, ...

Pound believes that this generation may also benefit from the years of work in bringing anti-discrimination to the fore in football. There is hope that Daniels may be a harbinger of a new era. Daniels is the UK’s first active male professional footballer to be open about his homosexuality since Justin Fashanu in 1990.

Jake Daniels is UK's first active openly gay male footballer in 32 years, it's a big deal.

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LONDON (AP) — Prince William expressed hope Tuesday that more soccer players will have...

It is phenomenal to see the support the Blackpool player has had after coming out. Now he needs good people around him.

But, at the same time, I have a career and want to be known for being good at my job. There may be incidents in the future and we have to be prepared for that. You go public because you want to help so many other people out there who you don’t know, those who are still afraid to say what they feel. It’s always other people who inspire you, who give you the confidence until it’s your turn to do it. That’s when you need to have confidence. That’s when you have to be strong. That’s why you need to explain to people, talk to people, help them to understand. But I hope he’s got good people around him, people who are also able to say no when the requests come in from all around the world. He’s at a stage of his career where he’s just signed a professional contract, he’s played a few minutes in the Championship and will probably play more next season. Because coming out is such a personal decision, a life-changing experience, and you have to understand when is the right moment. I tried to prepare for it. Or someone at the very start of his professional career, such as Jake Daniels, who plays for Blackpool in the Championship? That Jake is the first is a huge step forward, but the fact it’s such big news is also something the media needs to reflect on.

While older fans praise teenager's courage, younger people wonder why football is so behind the times.

As the manager of a gay bar in Leeds, she found the news “positive, but slightly bizarre in this day and age”. She said: “Football is the only sport that hasn’t caught up with the times, and it needs to – quickly. He went on to explain how the decision to come out had already improved his performance and mental health. If this is the first step towards it doing that then great.” “I’m one of 10 kids, and I have a gay brother and a gay sister,” she said. Fashanu, who was frequently the target of malicious comments and crowd abuse relating to his sexuality, killed himself in 1998. It is a sentiment many people in Blackpool share.