Pioneering Devils come out to play

Focus on Dublin Devils FC:Seán Kenny on how whatever views teams have about facing Ireland's gay soccer team, a few tough tackles soon put them straight

Under a sinking winter sun, the players cast lengthening shadows across the Astroturf. Shouts ring around the pitch. "Pressure, lads, pressure!" "Don't give him an option!" "Ah, ref, handball!"

Two men watch from the sidelines. At one point, they are actually joined by a dog, completing the proverbial complement. In every respect but one this is an ordinary amateur soccer match. Its uniqueness is derived from the involvement of Dublin Devils FC, Ireland's only gay soccer club.

The club's genesis was a small ad placed in Gay Community News. A handful of respondents gathered for a kickabout in Tallaght on a fine day in April 2005. Soon after, a club had started to take shape around John McNamara, Pat Lonergan and other early members.

McNamara, the team's left back, was elected as their first chairman. Lonergan, who plays at right back, became treasurer.

"The initial impetus was that up to then there had been no outlet for gay people to play soccer. There was a gay rugby club, but no soccer club, so a few of us felt that Dublin could take one of those," recalls the chairman.

Lonergan refers to this demand within the gay community: "Sport is sport. We chat about Arsenal and Chelsea and games as much as straight guys. Sport is sport, whether you're gay or straight."

Back in the early days, they went by the impishly punning name of "Men United". As the club became more formally established, "Men United" became "Dublin Devils".

"Men United was a fun name but we found that when we played in tournaments abroad no one knew where we were from," says McNamara.

The decision to constitute Dublin Devils as a gay club was taken against the backdrop of a sport that has had a relationship with homosexuality that can most generously be described as awkward. Famously, Justin Fashanu remains Britain's only openly gay professional footballer.

Fashanu's sexuality overshadowed a career that descended into underachievement after his promising early days at Norwich City. A characteristically gruff Brian Clough, the striker's manager at Nottingham Forest, described Fashanu as "a bloody poof" in his autobiography.

Fast forward a couple of decades to this season and a section of Arsenal fans have been chanting homophobic songs - based on false tabloid reports - about Ashley Cole since his acrimonious departure from the club.

How do the club view the homophobia that has traditionally existed within the game?

"That exists more in the stands than on the pitch but undoubtedly it is a latent thing. Much as we'd like to, we're not playing in stadiums where people have the ability to chant to us. Whatever comes, comes from people with a bit of beer in them. That's life. We're not going to stop and dwell on it. It'll be a week-long sensation when another player comes out. It'll happen someone, willingly or unwillingly, and it'll be out there for a period of time. Then some other taboo will be broken," says McNamara.

Public reaction to Dublin Devils during their participation in the high-profile Gay Games, held in Chicago in July last year, was strongly positive.

They recall the opening ceremony, walking out into the vivid collage of sights and sounds that was Soldier Field. As part of Team Ireland they took their place amid the music and applause, the hats, flags and headbands and 12,000 other competitors.

Playing in their first major tournament, in the furnace of an Illinois summer, the team reached the quarter-finals, only to be beaten on penalties by a team from West Hollywood.

"The Gay Games were absolutely embraced by the whole city. We wore badges so we were very noticeable on the street. You'd travel to events on the bus or the subway," says McNamara.

Lonergan continues: "People would ask, 'What are you playing in? Where are you from?' We found no homophobia there at all."

In the context of the rather macho culture of football, how have "straight" teams they've played responded to Dublin Devils?

"We take the view that when we play a team we're here to play soccer and everything else is secondary. Whatever views of us they might have get wiped away within a couple of minutes after a few hard tackles, and they realise they're playing just another team. Generally, when they lose, they tend to slink away quite quietly but that's their own business." He allows himself a wry smile.

Participation in gay tournaments has taken Dublin Devils players to places such as London, Manchester, Chicago, Copenhagen. And Crumlin, where they play in a "straight" midweek league. Football is the means but results are not the club's sole end, as McNamara explains. "There are social and competitive sides to the club. In terms of the social side, we've had a number of members come in where this is their first experience of gay life and it's important for them to be comfortable. It doesn't involve the pub scene - well, it does after matches - and it's an alternative for people who are taking that first step or are shy."

Lonergan expands: "You have a lot of sportsmen who are gay and play with regular straight teams simply because there was never any club within the gay community. Joining a gay club can help them come to terms with their sexuality."

So far, 34 players have added their names to a lengthening list of Dublin Devils members. The club's rapid expansion casts their status as the only gay team in Ireland into sharp relief. In time, they'd like to see more gay sides dotting the compass points of Ireland, as they do in England. After a decade's head start, the nuts and bolts of gay soccer across the water are firmly in place.

"There's a league over there and it has support and funding from the FA," says McNamara. "They're fully affiliated with the FA; that's evolved over time. They have what comes with being established 10 years ahead of us." The club are confident the FAI will be equally supportive when they knock on the door of 80 Merrion Square.

For now, they face the everyday challenges of the amateur sports club. There are funds to be raised and new members to attract. One day, they'd like to see their inchoate project rendered in bricks and mortar in the form of a clubhouse.

Looming large on the horizon is next summer's Gay World Cup in Buenos Aires, to which the Dublin Devils will take two teams. Before this, they plan to host a smaller tournament in Dublin. There is precious little white space on the club's calendar for the next year.

They have, by the way, two straight players on their books. Sport, as Lonergan says, is sport. And football is football. Whichever foot you kick with.