Heard of the Steelers? No, not them, the gay gby team om London - ESPN

Contents:

• HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON
• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• CELEBRATG 20 YEARS OF THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB
• JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT

HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON

Niamh LewisMar 1, 2021, 09:52 AM ETWhen Eammon Ashton-Atkson, an Atralian televisn reporter, cid to film his gby club as they went to the biannual Bgham Cup 2018, he uld never have imaged the posive reactn a documentary about would film Steelers is about London-based Kgs Cross Steelers, the world's first gay gby club and one of over 60 such sis world-wi. Although the stori the film are related to the stggl of g out, prsn, and a history of bullyg for beg gay, they're are told a way which wir dienc n empathise wh. "It's a story about a gay gby club, but 's also a story about human stggle, and people g sport and their sense of muny to help each other, which is universal, " Ashton-Atkson told ESPN.

WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’

"She's got a certifite for the hight achg level, and sce she left the Steelers she's been nsistently overlooked and not even shortlisted [for jobs] than men who are ls qualified and ls experienced than her, which is heart-breakg and disgtg, " Ashton-Atkson beg gay 2021 wtern society is often unremarkable today, you don't have to go back very far to fd trmatic stori. "But, if 's easier to e out now, then why do we need gay gby clubs?

"That's a thought that do go through your md, and while 's generally a posive there are still pockets of homophobia. Then, 2019, Atralia's Israel Fol spouted his famo anti-gay ments on Instagram, sayg "hell awas" gay opened the drawer and started the ed aga om scratch, and turned to the unnventnal documentary has bee. "Wh beg gay, you don't thk that I grew up sperately wantg to change my sexualy, like, wishg the gay away?

WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’

They were dubbed the tabloids as 'Harlequeens, ' there was homophobic ments, and a fear over ntractg HIV and AIDS. "For those of who grew up when wasn't ok to be gay, jt really before the ter was mon, there was huge stigma. You had Margaret Thatcher's Sectn 28 [a law brought the UK by a Conservative ernment om 1988-2003 to the "prohib the promotn of homosexualy"], misnceptns about the HIV vis, " Ashton-Atkson explas.

CELEBRATG 20 YEARS OF THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB

"For those guys who were settg up that team 1995, they were real trailblazers bee they were gog out to different teams Essex week--week out smashg down stereotyp one game of gby at a time and om what I heard, the men Essex, they had never met an openly gay man before, let alone an openly gay sportsman. However, "There are still issu wh homophobia and homophobic language beg ed on the pch.

"And one of the thgs we've been workg on wh Harlequs and Monash Universy is that a lot of that isn't actually homophobia, 's the culture of clubs, the challeng of languag not beg followed through. First gay gby club found 20 years ago. The first time Mark Bhell and his all-gay gby team led up agast a straight si, he was overe by a sense of his own masculy.

For much of his life, the Brish lawyer had been told that beg gay somehow ma him ls of a man.

JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT

Yet standg shoulr-to-shoulr wh his gay teammat, he felt liberated. “So I really enjoyed playg gby agast straight men, wh my gay teammat, bee for me kd of proved that we were jt as mascule as they were – that we n be jt as physil as they are.

Bhell was one of the early players to jo the Kgs Cross Steelers, the world’s first gay gby club, which this year celebrat s 20th anniversary.