Patrice Evra supported the cause of homosexuals in football, in an interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday. The former Manchester United and Blues side assured that many players refused to come out for fear of judgments, and of their teammates.
Patrice Evra answered questions from readers of the newspaper The Parisian this Tuesday on the sidelines of the publication in French of his autobiography “I Love this game”. In the book, the former left side emblematic of the France and Manchester United team returns in particular to the violence and sexual assault of which he was the victim during his adolescence. But this time, Evra tackled another difficult theme: that of homosexuality in football.
At a time when openly gay active footballers can be counted on the fingers of one hand, the ex-defender wanted to give them strong support and recalled that the subject remained taboo in his sport. “In the world of football, it’s simple, everything is closed,” says Patrice Evra.
Evra: “At least two players per club who are gay”
In October 2021, Australian Josh Cavallo came out. The community has received many positive messages around the world but nevertheless fears some overreactions after revealing their homosexuality.
The 22-year-old player at Adelaide United has confirmed in recent days that he has been the victim of homophobic insults. Yet, according to Patrice Evra, many professionals are gay in football.
“When I was in England, they brought in a person to talk to the team about homosexuality, he continues. Some of my teammates said during this exchange: ‘It’s against my religion, s’ there is a homosexual in this locker room, he has to get out of the club ‘, etc. At that moment, I said:’ Everyone shut up. You realize ‘. Me, I played with players who were homosexual. Face to face, they opened up to me because they are afraid to talk about it otherwise. There are at least two players per club who are homosexual. But in the world of football, if you say it, it’s over. “