Watch WONDERKID on Sky

You can see a new short film called ‘WONDERKID’ – which focuses on a young professional footballer whose sexuality is threatening to alienate him from the game he loves – on Sky Sports 1 from 10.15pm on Friday night.

The film will air straight after the live EFL clash between Barnsley and Nottingham Forest on a weekend when the Premier League, English Football League and Football Association will show their support for the LGBT community by hosting a Rainbow Laces takeover. Sky Sports is also supporting the campaign as part of TeamPride.

Created and directed by Rhys Chapman and starring Chris Mason in the lead role, ‘WONDERKID’ has won support from a host of different organisations, including the Football Association, the Premier League, adidas and Sky Sports. 

Indeed, Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler, pundit Alan Smith and reporters Geoff Shreeves and Guy Havord lend their voices to the film.

We spoke to Chapman, Mason, Tyler and Shreeves to learn more about the project and its message…

Football v Homophobia

Over 5000 players make up the combined membership of the PFAs in England and Scotland. Any that are gay might well already be out to their team-mates, but for whatever reason, they are not out in public. Rightly, that’s a personal decision for them – the wider question for the rest of football is whether we’re sympathetic enough to players who may be struggling with this issue.

“We sometimes see footballers as objects that are there for our entertainment, but we forget that they are humans with real life problems,” says Mason. That desire to empathise with a gay footballer and see the issue from their perspective lies at the heart of ‘WONDERKID’. 

For young players making their way up the pro ranks, it’s even more important to be supportive. The 2013 National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles showed that LGB self-identified individuals make up an estimated 7% of the 16 to 24-year old population in the UK, while the 2014 Youth Chances Survey found that 44% of young LGBT people from the same age range had considered suicide.

Chapman believes “the main reason that players do not feel safe enough to come out is out of fear of the reaction of the fans.” The figures back up that fear – the most recent Kick It Out survey published in March 2014 recorded 39% of players as having witnessed homophobic abuse in stadiums. Meanwhile, 26% of players surveyed said they had witnessed such abuse on the training ground or in the dressing room.

Why a short film format?

Chapman, a 27-year-old film-maker from East Anglia, has been working on the project for the last three years. With a determination to educate as well as entertain, he knew a short film could show a different perspective and increase awareness.

“Because we don’t know of any gay footballers currently playing in the UK, people wouldn’t necessarily understand the trauma suffered by someone in that environment,” he said. “So we’ve created an authentic and emotional portrayal of a …

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