Andrew Brennan (born 1 April 1993) is an Australian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger or striker for

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

. In May 2019, Brennan came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, becoming the first openly gay Australian male footballer.

Club career

Brennan joined the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

on 29 April 2015 from National Premier League side

, signing a two-year deal. Due largely to ongoing injury problems, Brennan was forced to wait until 26 March 2016 to make his

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

debut against

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, replacing Mitch Cooper in a 2–1 loss. Brennan went on to make a total of three appearances in his maiden

season, all off the substitutes' bench. On 19 January 2017, it was announced that Brennan had parted with the Jets by mutual consent. He made a total of five A-league appearances during his time with the Jets. He then returned to

Bentleigh Greens SC Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club is an Australian semi professional Association football, soccer club based in Cheltenham, Victoria, Cheltenham, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1986, by the Greek Cypriot community and current ...

in the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

. In November 2018, Brennan signed with

Green Gully Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club ...

of the NPL Victoria League.

Personal life

In an interview with the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'', Brennan came out as

after being closeted for several months. He had previously dated women, but had been unsure of his sexuality for years, stating that it had been a "mental burden". Brennan is the first male Australian footballer to come out as gay, and one of only a few openly gay players playing professionally.

References

External links

* * * 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Hobart Australian soccer players Association football forwards South Hobart FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Green Gully SC players South Melbourne FC players Oakleigh Cannons FC players National Premier Leagues players A-League Men players Sportsmen from Tasmania Australian LGBT sportspeople Gay sportsmen Australian LGBT soccer players 21st-century LGBT people Soccer players from Tasmania {{Australia-footy-forward-stub