1966efc
Player Valuation: £20m
Warning: if you don't cope well with raw emotion, look away now!
I have to start off by brown nosing this site and its mods. I've genuinely not found the level of humour or insight on any other site, be it footy or anything else for that matter.
On this day, some years ago, a young man of 18 chose to kill himself. He was found swinging from a metal hook in the old docks in Portsmouth. He was an ex student of mine who had found it impossible to live with the "shame" of being gay and couldn't face telling his family.
Over the years, I've often thought how I could have made his life a bit easier.
So, here's how it goes. You go out and, for whatever reason, you hold your partner's hand. You come out of a particular nightclub; you sit down on a public bench. And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be some wit / outraged citizen / bigot ready to offer shouted advice about your proclivities; or a brick thrown at your back.
After a while you get the picture that quite a lot of people don't like you because of what you are. You might turn to self harm, drugs or drink. You might try to destroy yourself.
Because you're gay, you're not really allowed to like footy: lace, quiche and a a quick game of badminton are what you're supposed to like. You are boxed in by people's expectations.
So for the sake of Adrian Cooper, his family and friends, here's a thought: the word "gay" as an expression of poor, sissy, or stupid, is unacceptable. It's the equivalent of the "N" word in racism.
The use of the words fag or faggots is also unacceptable. (Unless we choose to use it in which case it's funny.)
Why?
Because it builds up in the minds of teenagers a picture that "this" is acceptable / normal and "that" is laughable / wrong. And kids are impressionable.
It might be your brother or sister, child or grandkid. Please, think before you write.
I have to start off by brown nosing this site and its mods. I've genuinely not found the level of humour or insight on any other site, be it footy or anything else for that matter.
On this day, some years ago, a young man of 18 chose to kill himself. He was found swinging from a metal hook in the old docks in Portsmouth. He was an ex student of mine who had found it impossible to live with the "shame" of being gay and couldn't face telling his family.
Over the years, I've often thought how I could have made his life a bit easier.
So, here's how it goes. You go out and, for whatever reason, you hold your partner's hand. You come out of a particular nightclub; you sit down on a public bench. And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be some wit / outraged citizen / bigot ready to offer shouted advice about your proclivities; or a brick thrown at your back.
After a while you get the picture that quite a lot of people don't like you because of what you are. You might turn to self harm, drugs or drink. You might try to destroy yourself.
Because you're gay, you're not really allowed to like footy: lace, quiche and a a quick game of badminton are what you're supposed to like. You are boxed in by people's expectations.
So for the sake of Adrian Cooper, his family and friends, here's a thought: the word "gay" as an expression of poor, sissy, or stupid, is unacceptable. It's the equivalent of the "N" word in racism.
The use of the words fag or faggots is also unacceptable. (Unless we choose to use it in which case it's funny.)
Why?
Because it builds up in the minds of teenagers a picture that "this" is acceptable / normal and "that" is laughable / wrong. And kids are impressionable.
It might be your brother or sister, child or grandkid. Please, think before you write.
