Robbie Rogers: I’ll be ‘extremely flamboyant’ at Russia World Cup

He’s previously described FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups to Russia and Qatar “absolutely insane”, but it seems that for Robbie Rogers, a boycott is not on the cards. Speaking to the Mirror, the 28-year-old LA Galaxy player said that if he was to get the call up to the USA international squad at either tournament, he would take a direct stand by being as flamboyant about his sexuality as possible. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter previously came under fire in 2012 for joking that gay fans or players should “refrain from any sexual activities” at the tournaments. “I think what I’ve learned from my experience of coming out and being present in the locker room is that by being there it is more of a statement than boycotting or something like that,” Rogers said. “So if I were to go to Russia or Qatar then I would do it and I would be extremely flamboyant about it.” The former Leeds United player – who came out as gay while announcing his retirement in 2013 before returning to the game following an encouragingly positive reaction to the news, added that while things were looking better for gay players in the US, there was still some way to go round the rest of the world. “I have felt that for the past few years now,” he said when asked if things were improving. “Obviously there are ‘not out’ footballers around the world and that reminds me of the atmosphere in the locker room, especially what it was like for me before I came out. “It’s very much changing in the MLS [Major League Soccer] – I have friends in every team and they tell me how things have changed, the sensitivity to using certain words and stuff like that. “That being said, the next two World Cups are in places that are extremely homophobic and there aren’t really any out footballers around Europe or South America so it hasn’t really changed that much.” The former Attitude cover star recently discussed his first gay sexual experience, revealing it was “super awkward” but that he’s “gotten better” at it now – read more here. attitude.co.uk caught up with the star at the end of last year to discuss his new autobiography and plans for a new US sitcom based on his life – read our interview in full here. More stories: Man sentenced after washing out homophobic child’s mouth with soap Christiano Ronaldo flashes abs, Japanese TV hosts freak out