AN Irvine-based GP who is also a qualified referee has come out as gay in a bid to change the culture of Scottish football.

Category one official Craig Napier is a doctor at Bourtreehill Medical Practice and leads a medical course at the University of Glasgow when not on the pitch.

Napier, who took charge of 10 top-flight games in Scotland last season, spoke about his sexuality in a video on the Scottish Football Association (SFA) Twitter account.

"It's something that I never thought I'd be sitting here doing," he told the SFA.

"It's something that I've lived with for a long time, it's been a difficult journey to get to this point, but over the last couple of years it's become a lot easier.

"I think it's really important that people like me are willing to sit here and do this. I don't think this needs to be a news story but I think at the moment it really does.

“We need to see the climate change so that people do feel that they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin, and that needs to then transcend into football.”

Another ref, Lloyd Wilson, joined Napier in becoming the first openly gay participants in men’s Scottish football since Justin Fashanu, who played for Airdrie and then Hearts in 1993 and 1994, several years after announcing his sexuality.

Wilson, who referees in Scotland’s lower leagues, talked about his sexuality in a video on the YouTube channel of mental health charity Back Onside.

When asked why he was speaking publicly now, Wilson said: “I think really the reason being that this has been a horrific journey, to be honest.

“A journey of maybe 17 years of living a life that I didn’t want to live, living a lie, living the way that other people maybe wanted me to live or that I thought other people wanted me to live. And probably dictated and directed in many ways by football.”

Blackpool forward Jake Daniels last month became the first British player in the professional game to come out publicly as gay since Fashanu in 1990.

The 17-year-old revealed he had been inspired by other sports figures such as Adelaide defender Josh Cavallo, Thetford player-manager Matt Morton and Olympic diving champion Tom Daley, while Napier also cited the same figures as being influential in his decision, too.

He added: "I've never had a bad experience when I've had these conversations, I've always felt so much lighter after speaking about it.

"This isn't a conversation about me, this is a conversation about trying to change the culture in Scottish football.

"There is something about football, there's still that barrier.

"There are no footballers on the pitch who are [openly gay], but they are there. And until we have these conversations and these role models on the pitch, there will be that stigma and that fear.

"Hopefully here in Scotland I can play a small part in hoping that it can inspire whoever is out there to be more comfortable in who they are and have the conversations with their family, their friends, their team-mates and come out publicly if they feel able to."