When I saw photos of Manchester United’s Gary Neville kiss teammate Paul Scholes on the pitch after Scholes scored a late goal to give ManU a key win Saturday, I thought no big deal. Soccer kisses are pretty routine, especially in Europe. But the Neville smooch has drawn headlines in Britain and at least one insinuation of homophobia directed at an online soccer site.
Among the headlines: “When men’s lips meet. By kissing Paul Scholes, Gary Neville declared war on homophobia.” “Kiss and hell.” “Eternal Scholes gives United kiss of life.” “Kiss of life.” A columnist for the Guardian declared it a blow against homophobia:
Neville … may be married with two kids, but if this crazy, untamed, obsessional partisan feels that the only way of truly conveying his feelings is to lock lips with a bemused redhead then surely there’s a broader message that could be made from it? The Manchester Pride event runs through the last 10 days of August this year. Neville should be invited as a guest of honor. …
This was no peck on the cheek, this was a full-blown face-sucking. It was a greeting both intimate and red-blooded.
Someone at ESPN’s Soccernet was caught naming the photo “nevillegay,” as the Huffington Post explains:
Kisses between teammates after an important victory are not unheard of, but apparently one ESPN Soccernet editor read more deeply into the moment. He posted a picture of the pair smooching on Soccernet and named the file “nevillegay.” As Dirty Tackle points out, the name was later changed to “nevillekiss” and was ultimately taken off the site when more recent news replaced Man U’s victory.
The weirdest reaction, though, came from Barry Glendenning, sports blogger for the Guardian:
That kiss was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And before you scuttle off down to the comments section to level accusations of homophobia at us, don’t bother. If it was two ripped and dashing footballers – some Matt Taylor-on-Jason Roberts action, for example – we’d have no problem with such ostentatious public displays of man-love and possibly be even a little turned on. Hell, even if Gary Neville had just planted one hand on either side of Paul Scholes’s head and laid a shock-and-awe black-and-white movie style smacker on his lips, that would have been fine too. But it was the tenderness of the moment, the cupping of the face, the tilting of the heads, the eyes closed expectantly, the blur of ginger hair and wispy not-quite-beardness in yesterday’s sport sections that put us off our lunch. Down with this sort of thing. Careful now.
I need a translation on that, since I have no idea what point he is trying to make. But the “it’s icky, I can’t stomach food after seeing it” tone of the piece shows that Glendenning clearly has some issues to work through.
Homophobia has been a problem in English soccer, to the point where they can’t get players to speak out against it publicly lest they be ridiculed and labeled. The intense coverage of the kiss on the pitch shows there is still a long way to go.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 1:00 AM
Barry sure can write a nice homo-erotic tale. Had it been two chicks making out after a score I guaran-sheed the reaction would be much different.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 1:09 AM
“weirdest reaction” lol! Welcome to the finest of the British press, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. As much as I enjoy a hot ginger, I would need a strong drink or two before kissing Paul Scholes that deeply myself…
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 3:35 AM
DMA, well duh, two lesbians kissing isn’t the same in the eyes of the mainstream media since it’s controlled by straight men. Lesbianism has sometimes been defined as an aspect of heterosexuality. Since everything (supposedly) is seen through the perspective of the straight male, anything that deviates from that is seen as perverted or not appropriate. Sad but true.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 4:59 AM
Where’s Auguste Rodin when you need him?
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 5:16 AM
“I thought no big deal. Soccer kisses are pretty routine, especially in Europe.”
LOL!
Whether that was a joke or not, I can tell you it’s mouth-to-cheek, usually. I’ve never seen it done in the US. Actually, you’ll see kisses to the head of a teammates, the head on your neck, not penis.
This is the most awkward article I’ve ever seen in the news. Would be nice if this was picked up by ESPN. *Waves fist in rage*
BTW, I hope I never do this after a game. Good god.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 7:45 AM
The kiss is beautiful.
Italian or French players kissing that way would be unnoticed.
Barry Glendenning’s post looks like Brit humor from “Little Britain”.
Had the Soccernet poster named the file “Nevillegayte” rather than “nevillegay” it might have seemed less homophobic and more humorous. Still it should be judged in the context of Britain.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Is there a video of this kiss? A picture is OK but to see the supposed “tenderness” in motion would be nice.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 11:58 AM
[...] Like Jim Buzinski at OutSports, I really didn’t think anything about this. But apparently people are freaking out and talking about how this is some huge statement. What it’s a statement of seems to be a matter of debate where some think Mr. Neville was protesting homophobia while others think he was professing his deep abiding love for his ginger playmate. (I can’t say I’d blame him, really.) [...]
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 1:01 PM
Lucky bastard Gary Neville, Paul Scholes has been a lust object of mine for years. Great goal by Scholes too, I hope it helps Manchester United win the title this year (for a record 19th time) since Everton isn’t going to win it….
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 2:32 PM
“Is there a video of this kiss?”
I went looking to post one but could not find any. YouTube vids are only of the still photos. Seems odd not to have video in this day and age.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 7:01 PM
[...] The Neville-Scholes kiss and homophobioa in football (Out Sports) [...]
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 9:01 PM
That is a very intense romantic kiss which is what is freaking some people out. And the two men are not pretty boy types which makes it sexier.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 8:44 AM
no tongue; no kiss
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Is DJ kidding? The most awkward article you’ve ever seen in the news?? This is so bland I nearly fell asleep reading it.
Not that I didn’t enjoy it, of course….
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 1:48 PM
After all it is Pride month! Get with the game so to speak! In the USA they pat butts, grope, etc. Can you imagine the WPGA kissing? The media would be all over it in a positive way.
on Apr 23rd, 2010 at 3:00 AM
Yes, Wayne, I am serious. In the twenty years I have been alive, not once have I ever read such an awkward article. Not on ESPN, LA Times, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, or such papers. I believe you have legitimate news confused with celebrity gossip by a harlot named Perez Hilton. I don’t diddle my time away by reading such trash. So yes, something like the article in this blog posts is awkward to me. Or at least it is to me someone my age. I guess the lack of homo-eroticism in the article put you to sleep. Did you expect them to French kiss or guzzle each other’s semen?
on Apr 26th, 2010 at 8:11 PM
How ironic. A former boyfriend and still a close friend of mine from Ireland says rugby can be similar to this too. However, I agree with Dma, if it had been two women, I doubt a reaction like this would have happend.
on May 6th, 2010 at 4:54 PM
Perhaps to understand Barry Glendenning’s disgust you might want to understand a topic I recently took interest in: gingerism in the UK. WTF is that? Well, apparently redheads are abused and hated in England. Over the last several years there have been hate crimes against “gingers” in the UK.
One young man was stabbed to death because he had red hair. A family in Newcastle was forced to move three times because of anti-ginger abuse, vandalism, and bullying, a 12 year old boy was bullied so viciously he committed suicide, recently parents were forced to take their daughter out of school because she was bullied so much and school officials took no action to eliminate the bullying, and recently, a woman won a judgment in court because she faced a hostile workplace because of her red hair, which included sexual harassment.
I even found a thread on a British ex-pats website where a man said he was moving to the US because of anti-ginger abuse. That’s right— a refugee from persecution based on your hair color!!!!!
Scholes is a redhead, and all of Britain had to watch the perverse act of a redhead being kissed. Don’t believe me? Google: gingerism UK