When Richie Anderson told his football team he was filming a feature on homophobia in sport, most of them didn't realise he was also planning to reveal why the topic was so close to his heart.
During a piece for the BBC One show, Anderson came out to his teammates at Coombs Wood football club. Thankfully he calmed his nerves by scoring a few goals in a game beforehand.
According to Anderson he had been out to friends and family for years but was worried about coming out to his teammates due to rejection as well as homophobia in sport.
In the full feature, Anderson delved into the rates of abuse, as well as anecdotes about his own experiences with homophobia on the field.
"One of the big issues we've looked at this week," Anderson says while sitting down with his team, "it's really close to my heart, is homophobia in football".
"The reason why that means a lot to me is I'm a gay footballer," he continued before his team broke out in applause.
Afterward, Anderson said the team's group chat was flooded with support for him.
Last year the rainbow laces campaign revealed almost three-quarters of football fans in the UK had heard homophobic abuse at a match, with research showing a small percentage of fans would be embarrassed if their favourite player came out as gay.
You can watch Anderson's full report here.
