Homophobia remains a big issue in men's football. Man United legend Rio Ferdinand raised the topic again before the Burnley game.
"Just having a discussion in the car en route to the game…." he tweeted.
"The question has come up - Why are there no openly gay footballers in the Premier League???"
Many fans shared their theories. Here are some of the most interesting replies.
AwesomeDaw1529: "Patrice Evra said just a few weeks ago there is a gay player at every club he’s been at, but none have felt safe or able to come out due to teammate and fan abuse. That IS an issue."
LouisJordanEtienne: "They'd unfortunately get horrendous abuse online and at games from fans."
Antonio Marull G.: "Probably because FIFA is an institution that allows countries with homophobic laws to host World Cups and other football tournaments (Qatar and Russia for example).
"Why would they come out if THE football institution is against them?"
TransTommie: "It's not just the abuse from Twitter, the stands and the dressing room. But also the impact this would have on the player's brand.
"Their sponsorship would drop (unless they could spin it very, very well) — and they might even find that the likes of Newcastle don't want them."
TonyBhoy88: "Maybe because they see the abuse that black and other minority players get and they don’t fancy any of that. Doesn’t help that very little is done about it, especially online."
AdzMUFC4eva: "Bcoz they are probably scared. Taking verbals from crowd, keyboard warriors giving online abuse.
"Black players still get verbals if they have bad game, so why would a gay footballer feel safe coming out. They could come out and be brave but clubs don’t want to involved politically."
Darren Ham: "Because a 30yo current pro would have been born in the 90s, and playing youth football into the '00s when 'Get up, you ****' was heard on PL sidelines a lot more regularly than today.
"A lot would have been put off football, those that stuck on might have met other biases such as managers wanting 'a hard man' etc.
"Either way, it reduces participation, which reduces likelihood of someone reaching the top of the pyramid."
