Pemain Bundesliga Yang Konpius

Surah Al A'raf

Surah Hud 
 
One of the G.D.R. biggest talents had to choose between his life and his career. Marcus Urban decided to quit football and be openly gay.

After the magazine fluter published an interview with an anonymous Bundesliga player, who talked about the challenges he was facing as a gay player in the league, the debate about homosexuality and football once again caught fire. This time around even chancellor Angela Merkel chimed in, stating that the player ”had nothing to be afraid of. We’ll support him if he comes out of the closet”. Uli Hoeness told the Bild Zeitung that ”Bayern München is prepared for the day when one of players outs himself as gay. Everyone in the Bundesliga should be prepared for such an occasion, because it’ll happen very soon.”

A life in hiding
Balancing a football career, whilst trying to keep one’s homosexuality a secret can be quite challenging. The life story of Marcus Urban, known in his playing days known as Marcus Schneider, proves just that.
Urban was one of the brightest talents in the G.D.R. in the mid-80s. The midfielder started to attend the ”Children- and Youth Sporting Academy” in Erfurt from the gentle age of 13. Back then Urban dreamt of winning the World Cup, having posters of Maradona and Pelé on the wall of his dorm room. Winning the World Cup at 18 and playing for the G.D.R. was the Rot Weiss Erfurt’s youth player’s biggest dream. Urban’s future was certainly bright. The midfielder’s name was mentioned as one of the biggest future prospects for Rot Weiss Essen’s first team by one of his coaches. At 1.75 meters tall, and blessed with agility, Urban described his style of play in an interview in 2009 like this

I was incredibly aggressive. I played central midfield and was a play maker like Rafael van der Vaart at Hamburg

Urban was part of Rot Weiss Erfurt’s youth set up that won a surprising championship against greats like FC Magdeburg and BFC Dynamo in the summer of 1985. Frank Engel, coach of the G.D.R.’s international youth team had spotted Marcus’s talent whilst watching him play, telling him after the tournament ”We’ll meet each other once again in the near future!” Engel kept his promise, and Urban was selected to play for the G.D.R’s youth set up on October 23, 1986.
The midfielder would later play with or against players like Robert Enke, Thomas Linke, Bernd Schneider and Frank Rost. The Thuringia native was considered to be as talented as those four players who would become stars in the Bundesliga.
At the same time Urban had to repress another side of himself, one that he couldn’t show in public. Often times Marcus asked himself why he was attracted to men. He was wishing to make a recovery as quickly as possible, and get rid of his homosexuality. The youngster didn’t know where to turn. He was unaware of the fact that being gay was perfectly natural, and that it could be explained by genetic factors. ”The word gay was a curse word for me back then” Urban told Tagesspiegel in 2008.

Early attractions
Urban had realized through his teens that he was attracted to individuals of the same sex. In an interview with Bild the playmaker recalled that he developed a crush on Geography teacher Herr Behrens. Back then Urban was attracted to experienced, matured, fit men according to Ronny Blaschke’s biography ”Versteckspieler”.
Trying to appear straight to the outside world, Urban left nothing untried. His biggest dream was still to become a professional footballer. He cursed out opponents, calling them ”faggots”. The reasoning behind this move was simple: If Urban acted like a chav, the outside woulnd’t suspect him of being gay.
At the age of 15 Urban started reading books about psychology and body language, in order to be able to keep up his masquerade. Being identified as gay was his biggest fear back then.
When Marcus sat in the tram together with another team-mate he simply couldn’t hide his secret any longer:”I’m gay,” he uttered.  Urban was met with silence. Later on one of his coaches would tell the team that ”It is all right with me if you guys take girls to your room. Anything else would disappoint me.”
Was this a direct shot at him? He thinks so to this day! Urban’s play on the pitch started to suffer from the constant pressure he was facing during the time. He was still an artist on the pitch at times, but his game lacked the spark he once had.
Rot Weiss Erfurt were even considering to hire a psychologist to help Urban out. After Germany’s re-unification Erfurt were going to play in the 2. Bundesliga, and Urban was a vital part of their plans. His contract had already been drawn up, but a friendly between RWE and Sachsen Leipzig put an end to those plans. After colliding with an opponent Urban went to the ground, ending up with a cartilage injury.

A personal triumph
After his injury Urban had to come to terms with the thought of not being able to play football on a professional level. After his recovery Urban treated football more like hobby, playing for sides in the lower divisions, whilst studying at the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
During that time Urban decided to take a semester abroad in Italy. During that time Urban learned to appreciate the Italian cuisine, and fell in love with an Italian man. The revelation depressed him, and Urban ended up staying in bed for two weeks. At this point the midfielder realized that he had to give up his dream of becoming a professional footballer. After his trip to Italy Urban managed to get out of the closet and tell his secret to his family and all his friends. Urban managed to lift a massive weight off of his shoulders:

(It was) fantastic! All this pressure was suddenly relieved. And it was well received by my surroundings. From there on out I was much happier. This was my World Cup win

Looking towards the future

Urban is one of the founders of the network ”Football against homophopia”, and is still very outspoken about the subject to this day. During the EURO 2012 tournament, he wrote on the Huffington Post website

Every day, I was hiding. Pretending not to be different next to trainers, teachers, managers, fans, relatives. I struggled trying to control every gesture, and I had no life outside of soccer. Still, I wanted to play against the best so the pain endured

The former Rot Weiss Essen’s player’s story might even be televised in the future! A German film producer is currently developing a movie based on Ronny Blaschke’s biography of Urban.
 
p/s: kejadah nye nih..pasnih sokan apa plak nak yang kena jangkitan kuman nih huhu