Nigel Owens: Rugby referee on retirement and beg gay sport

Contents:

• WHO IS GBY REF NIGEL OWENS? WELSHMAN BRAVELY ME OUT AS GAY, FOUGHT BULIMIA AND OVERME SUICI
• NIGEL OWENS: 'I ULDN'T ACCEPT I WAS GAY'
• ‘I NSIRED CHEMIL STRATN,’ SAYS GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS
• RUGBY’S TRAILBLAZG GAY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS REVEALS SUICI ATTEMPT AT AGE 11 DUE TO BULLYG — YEARS BEFORE TRYG TO KILL HIMSELF A BATTLE WH SEXUALY
• CRAIG MAXWELL-KEYS: PREMIERSHIP GBY REFEREE ME OUT AS GAY VIA WHATSAPP
• PNEERG GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWNS LLED AN ‘ABOMATN’ HATEFUL, HOMOPHOBIC LETTER
• THE ONLY GAY ON THE PCH
• CLOSED PTNG SCREW-UP WR THAT GBY REFEREE ‘IS A GAY’

WHO IS GBY REF NIGEL OWENS? WELSHMAN BRAVELY ME OUT AS GAY, FOUGHT BULIMIA AND OVERME SUICI

In 2007, the Mynyddcerrig-native shocked the sports world by g out as gay. 6 In 2007 Owens shocked the sports world by g out as gayCred: SWNS:South Wt News Service.

NIGEL OWENS: 'I ULDN'T ACCEPT I WAS GAY'

It's such a big taboo to be gay my le of work, I had to thk very hard about bee I didn't want to jeopardise my reer. A GAY REF IN A MACHO SPORT. "It's such a big taboo to be gay my le of work, I had to thk very hard about bee I didn't want to jeopardise my reer, " he nfsed.

‘I NSIRED CHEMIL STRATN,’ SAYS GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS

"When I beme a referee, beme clear that there was nobody the sport who was gay. "Although that’s not to say that the sport is openly homophobic.

Owens knew he was gay his late teens. When gby referee Nigel Owens me out as gay 2007, he said was “a big taboo” to be LGBT+ his le of work. Welsh gby player Gareth Thomas later me out as gay, and other players have opened up about their inti too.

RUGBY’S TRAILBLAZG GAY REFEREE NIGEL OWENS REVEALS SUICI ATTEMPT AT AGE 11 DUE TO BULLYG — YEARS BEFORE TRYG TO KILL HIMSELF A BATTLE WH SEXUALY

Did you enunter much homophobia after g out as gay? But on the odd ocsn – on the very, very odd ocsn that there were homophobic ments shouted at me om the spectators – was heard by other people and was reported to the relevant bodi and they managed to al wh the suatn.

Rugby has allowed to be who we are, so nobody uld say that gby is a homophobic sport.

He hadn't met a gay man before and his feelgs were totally alien to him, so much so that he sperately tried to supprs them. ''I didn't want to be a gay person. ''Alongsi his battle wh prsn and anxiety, Owens veloped bulimia and beme hooked on steroids as he stggled to accept that he was gay.

CRAIG MAXWELL-KEYS: PREMIERSHIP GBY REFEREE ME OUT AS GAY VIA WHATSAPP

I didn't want to be a gay person Aged 24, Owens attempted to take his own life due to his self loathg over his sexual orientatn - a regret he says will plague him for the rt of his life. Rugby referee Nigel Owens is one of the most proment gay men sport. As an openly gay figure one of the most mascule of sports Nigel Owens is a rary – but he might never have achieved his inic stat gby unn if he had gone ahead wh plans for a chemil stratn.

“I didn’t want to be gay, ” Owens, who me out 2007, told CNN. “I actually went to the doctor at one stage to see if I uld be chemilly strated any way, if would get rid of me beg gay.

They n’t tell other people they’re gay bee they’re fightg themselv. However, he believ the mcular world of gby unn is way ahead of other global sports when to acceptg gay stars, although Gareth Thomas beme the first profsnal player to open up about his sexualy as recently as 2009.

PNEERG GAY GBY REFEREE NIGEL OWNS LLED AN ‘ABOMATN’ HATEFUL, HOMOPHOBIC LETTER

“It annoys me sometim when people say gby is homophobic. Rerd-Breakg Rugby Unn Referee & Gay Sports Personaly of the Year. Publicly me out as a gay 2007 makg him the first openly gay gby referee.

Stonewall’s Gay Sports Personaly of the De.

THE ONLY GAY ON THE PCH

Nigel Owens is a profsnal gby unn referee who ma history by g out as gay 2007.

One of the most regnisable figur the game, Nigel is the world’s first openly gay referee and has overseen some of the sport’s biggt match. Away om the pch, he has bee an tablished LGBT speaker who n rell the difficulti of beg gay such a mascule sport at rporate, public and Pri events. Nigel always stggled wh his sexualy, particularly due to homosexualy beg stigmatised the world of sport.

CLOSED PTNG SCREW-UP WR THAT GBY REFEREE ‘IS A GAY’

This clus beg named ‘Gay Sports Personaly of the Year’ 2007 and 2015 ‘Gay Sports Personaly of the De. A te gay in, Nigel leav a roundg impact on dienc at events. Owens, 47, is known as gby’s trailblazer, the first man the sport to e out as gay and to she a light on his battle wh prsn and attempted suici.

Across the hour that he discs mental health, prsn, bereavement and homosexualy, the word ‘acceptance’ is one he returns to often. It took Owens until the age of 26 to accept he was gay and another seven years before he told anyone.