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Out gay football player Jake Daniels has shared that there are 鈥渄efinitely鈥� more gay players in the league. The Blackpool FC star became the first active, male professional footballer in Britain to come out publicly as gay since Justin Fashanu in 1990.聽

Daniels spoke to former professional footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger for LADbible TV to discuss his thoughts on the sport, and whether he believed there were gay footballers who had yet to come out.聽

The 18-year-old forward said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know of any, I do think that there is. But if there is, you come out when you鈥檙e ready. You can鈥檛 force anything, it鈥檚 their choice鈥�.聽

Daniels asserted that he 鈥渄efinitely鈥� thought there were other players in the league who identified as gay and looked to public opinion as the probable factor to prevent others from feeling comfortable coming out while being an active footballer in the UK.聽

Social Media Impact

鈥淪ocial media is one massive thing. Being a footballer, you鈥檒l get targeted by other fans. And I feel like being gay, or racism, is such an easy target for someone to target you for. Someone can say you鈥檙e a rubbish player but if you have come out as gay, that鈥檚 their first instinct to target you鈥�, he said.聽

The Blackpool FC player told Hitzlsperger that the potential backfire and public responses to players coming out would be a scary thing for players to undergo.聽

鈥淭hey鈥檒l be shouting 鈥榊ou鈥檙e gay鈥� on the pitch, that鈥檒l be their first thing. I think for footballers, having such a massive fan base, I feel like that is the main scare of it. It鈥檚 social media鈥�, he said.聽

Daniels reflected on the traditional perception of masculinity in football as a reason why there currently aren鈥檛 any other players who have come out alongside him. 鈥淚 always have said, masculinity is a thing and in sport, you have to be strong鈥�.聽

鈥淚 feel like people refer to being gay as being weak, which is obviously not it. But I just think social media is the biggest thing, I would say鈥�, he added.

Meeting Soulmate

Daniels recently opened up about meeting his 鈥榮oulmate鈥�, after coming out to the public, speaking on Rylan Clark鈥檚 podcast, 鈥楬ow to Be a Man鈥�, about how he met his partner.聽

After he came out, Daniels had his social media 鈥渢aken off鈥� and when he returned to Instagram, there were around 鈥�20 000 message requests or something ridiculous like that鈥�. The top message was from his now partner, congratulating him for having the courage to be open with his sexuality.聽

鈥淚 had a sneaky look on his Instagram, and I was like, 鈥楢lright!鈥� Dropped a message back and said, 鈥楾hank you so much鈥�, – and at the end asked something like “Is there anything else I can do for you?鈥� I knew what my motive was!鈥澛�

Following Facetime calls, and longer interactions between the two, including meeting in person, the couple have 鈥渂een together ever since鈥�.聽

Daniels came out in May last year saying that he didn鈥檛 want to 鈥渓ie any more鈥�.聽

鈥淚 am hoping that by coming out, I can be a role model, to help others come out if they want to. I am only 17 but I am clear that this is what I want to do and if, by me coming out, other people look at me and feel maybe they can do it as well, that would be brilliant鈥�, he wrote at the time.聽