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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Boo Hoo gayfooty.com.au takes down AFL hunks

Angelic Paul Licuria
Paul Licuria
Gayfooty.com.au is a news item in Sydney Morning Herald as it is asked to take down offending pictures of Footy Players.

It's called gayfooty.com.au and it's got the AFL Players' Association's knickers in a knot.
Bachelor of the Year nominee, Ryan O'Keefe with friend The gay footy fan website, which features pictures of Aussie Rules superstars like Chris Judd, Brodie Holland and Ryan O'Keefe, was threatened with legal action unless it took down images of players in "socially embarrassing position[s]". One image showed Shannon Grant in the shower from the chest up. Scandalous!

The site has taken the "offending" images down but continues to run an aptly-named Best Looking and Fairest competition.

So what's behind the Players' Association's action? Is it homophobia or does the Players' Association have a point?

At first I thought it was the former. I wondered if the same images appeared on a website run by heterosexual women, would the Players' Association have been so heavy-handed?

Apparently they would be. The association's president, Brendan Gale, told the ABC today he would "absolutely" have taken the same action against a straight-themed website.

Luke Ablett!

He said gayfooty.com.au was running nude images of players that breached their privacy.

Homophobes often attack AFL. There's plenty who get on this blog and dub it GAYFL. I remember when I used to play Aussie Rules as a kid in Sydney, my Rugby Union-centric schoolmates called me a "poofter" because AFL shorts were so small and tight.

Thankfully this move by the Players' Association does not seem to be founded in the same deep-rooted fear about what other people think of their sexuality.

In other news, gayfooty.com.au's sexiest player poll has 64 players left in the running, including four Swans - Luke Ablett, Ryan O'Keefe, Tadhg Kennelly and Josh Willoughby.

The Slog is running its own version - who is the sexiest Swan? Here are photos of every Swan.
Do you reckon it's Cleo's Bachelor of the Year nominee, Ryan O'Keefe? Maybe you like Jude "Do-it-for-Delta" Bolton's blonde locks? And what about Captain Kirk's rock-star looks and Big Bad Bazza's tattoo?



My two cents worth - if Footy Players appear naked in pin up calendars then they can surely expect to be oogled over in Gay Sites. Look at the French Rugby Calendar (whoa)!

I for sure will be tempted to post MORE footy players for sure! Gay news for the Queer Australian

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