Scotland Tonight: Gay footballers

There are around 5,000 professional footballers in the UK, but not one of them is openly gay.

In a BBC documentary broadcast on Monday evening, the QPR captain Joey Barton blamed 'archaic' attitudes within the game.

In the entire history of the game, just one has been openly gay - Justin Fashanu.

Speaking in the BBC documentary, Joey Barton said: "There's no doubt in my mind, that in the next ten years, we will have an openly gay footballer.

"My only fear is certain managers and certain individuals within the game will discriminate against people. These archaic figures think if they had a gay footballer there would be all kinds of shenanigans going on in the dressing room."

The Professional Footballer's Association in England began a campaign to tackle homophobia.

As part of it a poster is being sent to all ninety two professional clubs. There are no plans for a similar scheme in Scotland.

Justin Fashanu's talent broke down race barriers to make him the first million pound black player in Britain. Many have followed where he led.

But more than 20 years after his suicide in an East London lock-up, he remains the only gay footballer to dare reveal his sexuality.

Scotland Tonight discussed the situation with Jack Ross from the Scottish Professional Footballers Association; Kevin Rowe, the founder of HotScots, Scotland's only team in the British gay football league; former SPL manager Jimmy Calderwood; and the sportswriter Graham Spiers.

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