Gay football documentary to tackle stereotypes
The Nike match ball infront of rainbow flags during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United at Vitality Stadium on February 24, 2018. (Catherine Ivill/Getty)
This winter a new film that highlights the Brighton Bandits Gay Football Club is expected to make the festival circuit.
The film follows the team through their 2006/07 season and explores the relationship between sexuality and soccer.
Since 1997, the Brighton Bandits have been making a name for themselves as the only gay soccer club in the area.
The Bandits were crowned Gay Football League champions in 2006, and this enlightening documentary follows the team’s quest to regain their title while revealing what it is like to be gay players in the often homophobic world of soccer.
Filmmaker Ian McDonald, who is a sports sociologist at the University of Brighton, took on the project to help break down stereotypes that were often associated with gay sports and gay athletes.
He explained to The Argus:
“Many men in the gay community think you can’t be really gay if you like football. [The film] takes issue with that.
“It is about men who say, ‘I like sleeping with other men and football’. They talk about their problems with the camp stereotype and say there are different ways of being a gay man – you don’t have to be a certain way.”
McDonald insists that it is not a propaganda piece, but merely a “human interest story” that shows how the men have become community leaders by donating their time, not just to the field, but to raising money for different charities and organisations.
The film will make its world premiere in December at the Brighton Film Festival.
Dylan Vox © 2007 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.
