SFA referee Craig Napier 'humbled' at response after coming out as gay in 'self-acceptance' journey
dailyrecord.co.ukCraig Napier described the response to his coming out as gay as “pretty humbling” after going public for the first time. Napier and fellow match official Lloyd Wilson announced their sexuality on Thursday in a bid to change the culture in Scottish football.
Both men revealed they had been inspired by similar public announcements from Adelaide player Josh Cavallo and Blackpool's Jake Daniels, who last month became the first active male professional footballer in the UK to come out since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
Napier, who took charge of 10 top-flight games in Scotland last season, went public with his announcement in a video on the Scottish Football Association Twitter account.
And speaking on the organising body’s official website on Friday, the 32-year-old said: “I’ve had great support and the response to the video interview has been pretty humbling.“One that touched me was from someone who had dropped out of football at a young age because he thought people would judge him differently because of his sexuality.“Another referenced the people who reply with ‘we don’t need to know this’ by saying he could have done with more visible role models when he was younger.“I’m glad I can offer a different perspective and maybe a bit of hope.
