In the history of America's big four sports - NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball - just six men have exited the closet. All had retired before going public about their sexual orientation. Against this background, it was hardly surprising then that the responses of Amaechi's peers varied from ignorant to just plain bigoted. For every Shaquille O'Neal preaching tolerance and acceptance, there was somebody like Philadelphia 76ers' Shavlick Randolph telling reporters: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me, I'm fine."

Then there was retired Miami Heat All-star Tim Hardaway.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known, " said Hardaway in a now infamous radio interview. "I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic.

I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States. First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that's right. And you know I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that."

Although Hardaway quickly rowed back from those comments as the mainstream media got on his case and the NBA banned him from its All-Star game festivities, there was a sense he was merely articulating a view widely held by many other athletes. The NBA is a demi-monde so charged with sexuality and so rife with promiscuity that the joke goes the hardest thing for a player about to head off on a lengthy road trip is trying not to smile too much when saying goodbye to his wife. This is the league where Wilt Chamberlain - one of the game's true giants - once claimed to have slept with over 20,000 women.

He made that boast in the chapter of his autobiography that he exclusively devoted to his hectic sex life.

"The NBA locker room was the most flamboyant place I'd ever been, " writes Amaechi in Man in the Middle. "Guys flaunted their perfect bodies. They bragged about sexual exploits. They checked out each other's equipment.

They primped in front of the mirror, applying cologne and hair gel by the bucketful. They tried on each other's $10,000 suits, admired each other's rings and necklaces. It was an intense camaraderie that felt completely natural to them. Surveying the room, I couldn't help chuckling to myself: And I'm the gay one."

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Amaechi (right) was raised in Stockport by his English mother.

Describing himself as "a fat kid sitting in the corner of the library" for much of his childhood, he didn't start playing basketball until he was 17. At six foot 10, he had an obvious physical talent and within six years, had progressed through the American collegiate system and on to the NBA. His unorthodox route helped when it came to concealing details of his personal life.

Team-mates with the Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers failed to recognise the obvious signs about his sexuality. Bizarrely, they put his personal flamboyance and legion of camp friends down to his country of origin.

"I had another convenient excuse, " wrote Amaechi. "I'm English. It's an old phenomenon, dating back to the film stars of the '20s, when audiences would ask is he gay or is he British? Every time I did something eccentric, like bringing my fabulously flaming friends to games, people would quip, 'Oh, he's just English, just leave him alone'."

Perhaps the most ridiculous element of this whole brouhaha has been the criticism he shouldn't have waited until retirement to come out. Despite the fall-out demonstrating just how difficult it will be for any homosexual athlete to come clean while still active - "going Amaechi" has already replaced "going Brokeback" in the popular discourse - some have still seen fit to question his courage and motives.

To do that is to ignore the obvious point that the environment surrounding all professional sport (not just in America) is so macho that anybody deviating from the sexual norm risks alienation and a whole lot more. Five years ago, the then New York Mets' catcher Mike Piazza had to call a press conference specifically to deny he was gay.

"First off I'm not gay. I'm heterosexual, " said Piazza, "The truth is that I'm heterosexual and date women and that's it. End of story."

He chose to speak out following rumours a newspaper story about an unnamed gay baseball star was referring to him. He quickly began dating and later married a former Playboy Playmate. If that story illustrated how unprepared sport was for an out player, Amaechi's experience shows not much has changed in the interim.