WEEKLY WHINE

Respect and support

by Amber Lynn

When I went to Friday’s staff meeting, Reg told me to write a Weekly Whine about Robbie Rogers. I sighed and said, “If I must.”

Then Rich asked about the one that Gaby was working on.

“What was she working on?” I asked him.

Rich said, “A complete and utter history of rice pudding.”

“Rice pudding?” I asked.

“Sure. She’s been working on this for months.”

I said, “I’ve never heard anything about it.”

“Where have you been?” Rich said, a little exasperated. “This is all she’s been doing for the last three months! Remember when she brought in all those books that just happened to mention rice pudding in passing? Emma? Dickens? Hitchhiker’s Guide?”

Deb asked him, “What was that last one?”

He said, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

“There was rice pudding there?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said. “Remember the supercomputer, Deep Thought? There’s a bit about how when they first turned it on, even before they connected up its memory, it started from first principles and derived the existence of rice pudding and income tax.”

“Oh yeah,” Deb responded. “I remember now. That was good.”

“So what about the rice pudding?” Rich asked Reg. “That was supposed to be for this week.”

“We’ll do it sometime later,” Reg said.

Rich answered, “She’s not gonna be happy about that.”

“Fuck her,” Reg said with a shrug.

“Good idea,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Reg said, “That’s why I want you to write about Robbie Rogers.”

I said, “Why? Because I’m bi?”

“Right.”

I asked, “So why is this news, anyway? There’s plenty of gay footballers.”

“Like who?” Deb asked.

“Like Tasha Kai,” I said. “Or Megan Rapinoe. She came out last year, and nobody really cared much at all.”

“They’re women,” Deb responded.

I said, “So?”

“So, women’s football has a significant lead in that regard,” she said. “Men’s football still has a lot of problems with tolerance. Believe me, it makes a huge difference that a guy like Robbie Rogers feels comfortable enough to come out.”

“Especially because he was playing in England,” Reg added.

“Yeah,” Deb said. “Wasn’t there a guy who killed himself a few years back?”

“Justin Fashanu,” Reg said. “That was 1998.”

He told me about Fashanu, an English footballer who came out in 1990 and hanged himself eight years later.

“Because he was getting mistreated?” I asked.

Deb said, “Actually, he was under investigation for sexually assaulting a minor.”

“Oh,” I said.

“The cops ended up dropping the investigation. But he still... you know... took his own life.”

“Shit,” I said.

“Yeah.”

Then Reg ended the meeting and asked me to write my response to the Robbie Rogers news.

I’m not really sure what my response is. I think it’s good news. After all, Robbie is still a good player. He’s not exactly a superstar, but he earned 18 caps with the US team, and he was playing in the English league.

He said that he’s “stepping away” from football to pursue other interests, like a clothing label that he has started. At 25, he’s nowhere near over the hill for a professional athlete. Players like him have already come out, but only female players. Deb was right: no other male footballer who is this prominent has ever come out at this stage in his career. Compare that to Justin Fashanu, who was only prominent because he came out, not because of his play.

But is he retiring for good? Even if it’s not for good, did his decision to come out prompt his decision to leave football? One would presume so, since he made both announcements at the same time.

I think he might be concerned about how he would be treated in a team locker room. But plenty of players, like Brad Evans and Lee Nguyen, have shown their support. Los Angeles’s Brian Perk said he would be pleased to have Robbie as a teammate.

But the most interesting response was from retired goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who said, “I hope he realises that he doesn’t need to retire. He will be more supported than he knows.”

I don’t know if Robbie felt that he needed to retire because he is gay. But if so, the support he has received from other players shows that Keller was right. The next player who comes out might continue playing, and I believe that player will receive the type of respect and support from his teammates that Robbie is receiving now.