Openly gay footballer Collin Martin has admitted his disappointment in the World Cup being awarded to Qatar and believed that the honour should have been given to a more 'progressive nation'.
Controversy has surrounded the tournament ever since the Middle Eastern country was awarded the duty of hosting the prestigious competition in 2010.
It is a nation where homosexuality is punishable by lengthy jail time or even the death penalty under Sharia law.
That is not to mention the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in building the stadiums, discrimination against women and severe corruption allegations.
"Yes I would like to have seen the World Cup awarded to a place or country that was more progressive for sure," he told VAVEL.
"I think where I am disappointed is that FIFA have awarded Qatar the World Cup, now there is an opportunity to educate and be part of progressing this country.
"It seems like they [FIFA] have taken a hard stance on not wanting to be part of that conversation at all, and to me that is where I am upset, because I feel like there could be real growth there, not only for Qatari people and what is going on in their country, but just in general terms of what progress looks like for the sport across the world.
"Let's be honest, Qatar is not the only place that is dealing with maybe up to standard human right issues. Even here in the US, we are dealing with anti-trans laws in our government and we are not perfect as well.
"But I think, at least can we have a safe space and can we create platforms where we can speak on it and try and address these issues and come together?
"It doesn't seem like FIFA wants to be a part of that at all."
The 22-year-old revealed that if he was to get the call-up to the national team, he would not refuse it in protest, rather, he would use his platform to create awareness and spread the message that discrimination against the LGBTQ community is not to be tolerated.
"For myself it would have been the ultimate honour, it would have been something that I've worked my whole life for and I would have gone to the World Cup for sure.
"I definitely would have been a part of the conversation and tried to address the discrepancies from what I've experienced in my country to what the people of Qatar are experiencing.
"I would go and try and speak on the fact that I am an openly gay footballer and I am just like everyone else and should be treated with respect, but also there should be standards and I would hope to speak about the fact of gay people in Qatar not experiencing the same support that I've experienced."
-
OneLove Armband
An array of the European nations pledged to wear the OneLove armband in order to: "Promote inclusion and send a message against discrimination of any kind."
This never materialised however as the federations and players backed down in fear of a card, leaving many to believe that this was an empty gesture.
Martin believes that the star players from the tournament speaking out on their own terms would have been more impactful and would be more likely to spark change.
"I didn't think it was that big of a stand in the first place.
"I would have much preferred the prominent players or the federations of those teams openly speaking out about the issues.
"It would have been more useful for these players, captains, the likes of Harry Kane to speak out and talk about these issues on his own and this would have been more powerful in my opinion."
Harry Kane, Virgil Van Dijk, Gareth Bale, Manuel Neuer and a number of others were set to wear the rainbow armband throughout the World Cup in order to express solidarity with the LGBT community.
Rule 4.3 of FIFA's equipment regulations states: "No item (of playing kit or other clothing or equipment) may be worn or used in any controlled area if FIFA considers that it dangerous, offensive or indecent, includes political, religious, or personal slogans, statements, or images, or otherwise does not comply in full with the laws of the game."
FIFA rejected the request from the FA to wear the armband, warning them that they could receive fines or player suspensions.
On the morning of the opening game, it was announced that the federations had backed down due to sporting sanctions, potentially being shown a card at the first whistle.
There is no protest without risk and this cowering in fear of a minor sanction would have left a sour test for the LGBT community as Martin expressed his disappointment in the England captain as well as the other nations in backing down:
"I definitely felt like it was a missed opportunity.
"I think the German's tried to protest in their own way and showed they wanted to be part of the conversation by blocking their mouths in the picture before the game.
"When there is repercussions there, I understand from a sporting side of things that you wouldn't want to then impact the game in any way with a gesture like that.
"In sport, in general and in history, there have been open gestures that have happened in stadiums so I feel if anything, it was a missed opportunity from these players to make a stand."
CBS journalist Grant Wahl was detained and denied entry to USA's clash with Wales due to wearing a rainbow t-shirt.
Once again, the 'everybody is welcome' narrative proved to be a lie.
"I think it was a nice gesture from him.
"Similarly to what I said before, I think FIFA backtracked on what they said, I thought they originally said it was going to be fine if people, fans, journalists alike wore rainbow t-shirts and when they showed up to the stadium, they are telling fans that they can't.
"To me, it's just a shirt and it shows representation of the community, but I don't understand what the issue is with the shirt and it shows another disappointing incident where a fan is just trying to go the game and show support, but I guess you can't show support for a marginalised community in Qatar."
-
Coming out and the impact on his playing career
Martin made the brave decision to come out in 2018 after receiving overwhelming amounts of support from loved ones.
He remains the only openly gay professional footballer in the United States and his friends believe that his bravery will inspire others to follow suit:
"Yeah, it took a while, it wasn't easy.
"For me it took every single facet of my life to come out publicly, so for me, coming out to friends and family was a huge thing, and then obviously team-mates and being supported by my club.
"So to come out at all those levels took a couple of years for me, and it took an overwhelming amount of support from all those people as well.
"I think at any point if I felt not comfortable, or not supported, it would have made it even harder to then make it public, coming out like I did.
"Just even feeling like I wasn't good enough to come out, or I wasn't a prominent enough player in my team, that was always a question for me because I always felt like I had to be one of the best players ever to come out and to receive that support.
"I had friends when I was playing in Minnesota outside of the team that told me 'you're going to make a lot of people's days and be such an influence for them and you don't even know it, regardless if you are the best player in the country or not'."
He continued: "Growing up, before I became professional, I was worried that my sexuality would have an impact on being a pro in general.
"For me, it was always hiding that and not allowing that to be part of the narrative in any way.
"More so, when I was a professional, my energy when you start to come out and start to accept yourself and explore your sexuality, a lot of that is taking place off the field obviously.
"If anything, my energies at certain points early on in my career were about accepting myself and figuring out massive parts of myself off the field, so maybe my energy wasn't always on the field and in turn I wasn't able to focus completely on my career at the time.
Martin is one of four openly gay professional footballers in the world.
Gary Lineker claims that he is aware of two Premier League footballers who play on the same team and are close to coming out.
Martin believes that if they were to come out during the World Cup, it would send out a statement and inspire others to be more open about their sexual identity.
"It would be a big deal, a huge deal and to do it during the World Cup would be perfect timing.
"I think the fact they haven't already come out concerns me because I don't know what the wait would be further on in the tournament.
"I think it would be big for the league, I think it would be big for progress and I hope we see it.
"Looking forward to the future, in general, a promising stat from the BonusFinder data is that 29% of sports fans believes we will see an increase in gay players in the future and to me that's promising, as I believe fan culture in general is changing."
-
Taking inspiration from Tyler Adams
The USA have impressed so far this World Cup, qualifying from the group stages and conceding one goal in three games.
The Netherlands will be a tough test in the Round of 16, but the Stars and Stripes have proven they are more than capable of causing an upset.
The midfield trio of Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah in particular have impressed, with Martin revealing his admiration for Adams as an American Premier League midfielder performing on the biggest stage.
"For sure [he inspires me], as a six myself i've been watching him and his positioning his incredible.
"Not only does he have the capacity to run around that I personally do not, it is his positioning as well and his leadership has been incredible, he is constantly being positive, constantly being available for the ball and I have just been so impressed by him.
"I think top clubs will be watching him and wanting to potentially grab him when they can.
"Even his poison in interviews leading up to the match and the respect that he spoke with under a tough moment and question from the Iranian reporter.
"He is everything an American could want in a captain and it helps that he is a great player as well."
*Collin Martin has partnered with BonusFinder and LGBT HERO to understand representation and attitudes towards the LGBTQ community in US professional team sport.
