Former Ireland rugby international Neil Francis opened himself to quite the backlash on Newstalk on Sunday, claiming that gay people have ‘very little interest in sport’.
Francis was speaking to Off The Ball when he claimed that he wasn’t watching the Sochi Winter Olympics due to the hysteria over Russia’s stance on homosexuality.
“What are their interests? I mean, If you’ve ever sat down with, you know, homosexual people, and asked them what their interests are, very often they have no interest in any kind of sport. That’s my experience from sitting down with them; I’ve done it on a regular basis.”
“It’s not a generalisation – that, you know, in every sphere of life. . . you meet either a gay man or gay people in a social environment… and my, my, the way I look at, you know, sort of, after talking to them, they have very little interest in sport. Very little.
“How many heterosexual people are hair dressers?” he asked, before adding that a rugby player that came out as being gay “could be a distraction” from their game due to the level of abuse they’d be subjected to.
The former Leinster number eight stated his belief that 1%, not 10%, of competitive sportsmen are homosexual.
Twitter is not impressed:
Neil Francis making a complete arse of himself today. Art of stereotyping not lost on the dinosaur @offtheball #mug
— Gerry Bogue (@gbogue92) February 16, 2014
Eh what?! Did Neil Francis really say ‘Gay men don’t play sport because it is too manly’? http://t.co/70PbePI1SX Surely not?! #IrishRugby
— Shane O Leary (@shaneoleary1) February 16, 2014
Unreal comments from #neilfrancis on @offtheball just now “gay people don’t like sport” & we wonder why more sports people don’t come out?
— jentaaffe (@jen_iZest) February 16, 2014
“Gay people aren’t interested in sports” “How many heterosexual people are hairdressers?” Neil Francis stereotyping like a Queen #offtheball
— Kris Clarkin (@kristweeting) February 16, 2014
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