I'm confused - and, it's a small measure of how confused I am that I can't make my mind up into which category (listed in blue - to the right) this blog should be placed. It might, for example, be classed as Sport; however, I sense that the issues raised stretch beyond sporting boundaries (pardon the pun) and suspecting that 'Miscellaneous' might be too vague, I've decided that 'Thoughts' might be an appropriate home for it.
What caused my confusion, by the way, is the fact that the decision by a professional cricketer (hence, the earlier pun) to announce that he's gay has made the front-pages of, not just the gutter-dwelling red-tops, but in most of the broadsheets, too.
Now, before going any further, in the light of recent criticism, perhaps I should consider the fact that many of those who read this blog hold views which might be considered rather more politically correct than my own. However, a recent blog outlines where I stand - and why. Furthermore, rather than just talk in a so-called enlightened manner, I try to behave appropriately.
Anyway, turning to the cricketer's announcement, my confusion arises from the fact that, if homosexuality is to be accepted in this day and age, why is such a big fuss being made - especially (and paradoxically) by a media composed of people who, in the main, would consider themselves to be the epitome of political-correctness?
Surely, publishing lurid headlines which might give the impression that being a gay sportsman is something out of the ordinary is entirely counter-productive - especially in cricket - where it wasn't all that long ago that the game was divided into what were known as Gentlemen and Players. Accordingly, to imagine that some of the public-school educated 'gentlemen' might not be what, in those days, were referred to as queer is almost inconceivable. However, I don't believe that the likes of Freddie Trueman, for example, would have cared a tuppenny damn about the peccadillos of their team-mates. He and his ilk would have just got on with the game.
What a shame that those attitudes seem not to prevail these days.
n.b.
I wonder if some of Freddie's ilk came from a well-known Yorkshire moor.
