Gay soccer star Robbie Rogers retir om Los Angel Galaxy

Contents:

• ROBBIE ROGERS: WHY G OUT AS GAY MEANT I HAD TO LEAVE FOOTBALL
• ROBBIE ROGERS, FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE PROFSNAL ATHLETE US PRO SPORTS, RETIR
• ROBBIE ROGERS TAK FIELD AS 1ST OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER U.S. PRO SPORTS MATCH
• US SOCCER PLAYER ROBBIE ROGERS COM OUT AS GAY, RETIR
• GAY SOCCER STAR ROBBIE ROGERS ON HIS MEMOIR, BOYIEND GREG BERLANTI AND LOCKER ROOM TALK
• ROBBIE ROGERS BUTS FOR LA GALAXY, BE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE U.S. PROFSNAL TEAM SPORTS
• ROBBIE ROGERS, FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE TO PLAY PROFSNAL SPORTS U.S., ANNOUNC RETIREMENT
• ROBBIE ROGERS: FIFA FAILS TO SUPPORT GAYS
• GAY SOCCER STAR ROBBIE ROGERS RETIR OM LOS ANGEL GALAXY

ROBBIE ROGERS: WHY G OUT AS GAY MEANT I HAD TO LEAVE FOOTBALL

He left Leeds "by mutual nsent" three months then beme only the send gay footballer Bra to e out public. Try explag to your loved on after 25 years you are gay. Rogers will bee a symbol and a spokman but 's important to remember that, more than jt a pneerg gay footballer, he is a 25-year-old man who stepped out of the shadows of his secret history.

ROBBIE ROGERS, FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE PROFSNAL ATHLETE US PRO SPORTS, RETIR

I'm the middle child so [Rogers lghs] I was sted to be gay.

' I realised I was gay when I was 14 or 15. But there are no gay footballers.

ROBBIE ROGERS TAK FIELD AS 1ST OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER U.S. PRO SPORTS MATCH

I'm gay. Photograph: Jamie Sab/Getty ImagIn England, Rogers beme acutely aware of the impossibily of beg a publicly-out gay footballer. How did he react when homophobic quips were ma – even though his team-mat were obliv to his sexualy?

US SOCCER PLAYER ROBBIE ROGERS COM OUT AS GAY, RETIR

"Yet there is also somethg diseased at the heart of profsnal football – epomised by s attu towards homosexualy.

Addg the gay aspect don't make a great cktail. Maybe a lot of fans aren't homophobic.

GAY SOCCER STAR ROBBIE ROGERS ON HIS MEMOIR, BOYIEND GREG BERLANTI AND LOCKER ROOM TALK

In the past I would have said: 'They don't know I'm gay so don't mean anythg. "It would be credibly powerful if a gay footballer uld face down that hate and abe – jt as black sportsmen like Jackie Robson and Muhammad Ali stood up to racism Ameri. Are people g to see you bee you're gay?

'"If you're playg well will be reported as: 'The gay footballer is playg well. ' And if you have a bad game 'll be: 'Aw, that gay du … he's stgglg bee he's gay.

'"He be thoughtful when asked if he knows any gay footballers. Even now, one of my bt iends said: 'Do we know anyone else football who uld possibly be gay? No footballer has sce said to me, 'Robbie, thank you, I'm gay too…' I don't know if anyone will.

ROBBIE ROGERS BUTS FOR LA GALAXY, BE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE U.S. PROFSNAL TEAM SPORTS

"Many gay men, surely, are playg profsnal football?

"Could he image a young gay footballer knockg on his manager's door to ask for advice? There would have been that mentaly: 'Oh he's gay … how will that affect the team? '"The way which Fashanu was treated has been a bleak warng to any gay footballer.

Obvly they're not homophobic but they'll say: 'Don't pass the ball like a fag. Do make a difference, if you're gay or straight, as to how you pass the ball?

ROBBIE ROGERS, FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE TO PLAY PROFSNAL SPORTS U.S., ANNOUNC RETIREMENT

There's the stereotype of a gay man beg soft and flamboyant. "About a month ago I would've thought: 'I don't want to be a spokman for gay footballers. He might not f the gay or the football stereotype.

ROBBIE ROGERS: FIFA FAILS TO SUPPORT GAYS

"I'm sayg all this wh a gay dog stg on my lap. A secretly gay person might feel unable to s wh their fay and watch him on a televisn chat show – but they n choose to hear his story private on their laptops or future, for Rogers, appears trigugly open-end. But 's an dtry where there are lots of problems – om sketchy agents to homophobic culture.

There will be gay footballers. "It's soberg to nsir how far this old game needs to move before clus gay players. Robbie Rogers appears much more than jt a lone gay footballer now.

Robbie Rogers, who beme the first openly gay male athlete a major North Amerin profsnal sport, is retirg om, 30, me out while ially announcg his retirement Febary 2013 shortly after beg released by Leeds Uned, beg the first profsnal footballer to do so sce Jt Fashanu Galaxy then signed Rogers jt three months later, wh the USA ternatnal gog on to make 78 MLS appearanc before brgg his playg time to a close on Tuday, havg missed the whole of the 2017 mpaign due to a long-standg foot a statement posted on his social media acunts, Rogers said he had spent much of his reer "nsumed by fear and shame" as he hid his sexualy. After jog LA Galaxy 2013, Robbie Rogers spoke to Geoff Shreev about beg the first openly gay man to pete Major League Soccer.

GAY SOCCER STAR ROBBIE ROGERS RETIR OM LOS ANGEL GALAXY

In an terview wh Sky Sports 2013, Rogers revealed he had ma the cisn to e out for his own "sany", and the 18-tim pped USA ternatnal has now urged those fellow gay and bisexual athlet "still ightened to share their tth wh the world" to e out. "I wish I uld have found the urage that so many young dividuals have shared wh me the past five years to live hontly and openly as a gay person.