Soccer player Collin Martin signed to the North Carolina Football Club (North Carolina FC) for a two year contract after four seasons with the San Diego Loyal. Martin is a familiar face in the North Carolina soccer community: he previously played for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in college.
“I’m very excited to be signing with NCFC at a time where the club has just won USL League One and is now pushing to enjoy success in the USL Championship,” he said in an interview with the NCFC website. “I can’t wait to see what this club achieves in the future and to be a part of something special in North Carolina.”
Martin’s decision to come to North Carolina was heavily influenced by the fact his family is based on the East Coast.
“Moving back to the east coast and closer to my family was definitely a factor in my decision to join NCFC,” he told Outsports.. “I was fortunate to play in front of my sister and her family in San Diego and I want to be able to have family at games in North Carolina. Also, only playing at Wake Forest for a year, I wanted to experience North Carolina again and playing there.”
Martin came out in June 2018 while he was playing for the Minnesota United and he is one of only a few professional out male athletes. Others include 21-year-old Luke Prokop in hockey, and Anderson Comas and Solomon Bates in baseball. Martin was awarded the Outsports Male Hero of the Year Award five years ago, and he continues to use his platform as a professional athlete to raise awareness for LGBTQ+ equality. The soccer player was also awarded the Harvey Milk Champion of Equality Award at the San Diego LGBT Center earlier this year.
“There is a source of pride knowing that I’m one of the few out pro athletes on the male side and I don’t take that lightly,” Martin added.
Martin’s previous team, the San Diego Loyal, walked off the field in September 2020 during a game against the Phoenix Rising after an opponent directed a homophobic slur at Martin. By walking off the field in solidarity with the out athlete, the Loyal team forfeited the match and any chance of making the playoffs. The walk-off became the topic of international headlines, sparking conversations about allyship in sports.
“I didn’t have a lot of references of gay athletes in professional sports,” Martin told San Diego-based television station CBS8 during an interview. “I wanted to be a reference for kids that were looking up to me, so that’s why visibility is really important to me.”