Lester’s Nick McCarthy out as gay and thanks club for their support | Lester | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE URAGEO JOURNEY OF IAN ROBERTS, GBY LEAGUE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
• COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT
• GAY RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SAYS HE'S SEEN MUCH 'GAYER' THGS IN SPORTS CHANGG ROOMS
• DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED
• RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYERS ATRALIA TO BOYTT KEY MATCH OVER GAY PRI JERSEY
• 10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT
• DAN PALMER PRAISED AFTER BEG FIRST WALLABI PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• ALAI UNED MIDFIELR JOSH CAVALLO BE FIRST CURRENT A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HE'S GAY
• RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

THE URAGEO JOURNEY OF IAN ROBERTS, GBY LEAGUE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER

Aborigals, Polynians, Melanians and Southern European migrants provid the game’s first diversy om s Anglo-Celtic base and the terlopers were accepted if they plied wh the and “pped sweet” had no place for homosexual men and to be labeled gay was a slur implyg weakns.

COREY PARKER: GAY PLAYERS STILL FEEL THE NEED TO HI NRL AND ’S TIME TO DO BETTER

And that’s the way remaed until a pneer smashed the stereotype, beg the game’s first openly homosexual player, a precursor, a full 20 years before Keegan Hirst, the Batley Bulldogs player who this weekend beme the first Brish player to do likewise.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

“Until Ian Roberts me out we thought all gay guys were weak, ” says Mar Fenech, the former South Sydney Rabbohs pta and Roberts’s team-mate. His father Ray was his bt iend and was openly speful about anythg gay he saw on televisn.

Stereotyp mean ls thkg and for the league muny, surround by a ep emotnal moat, there was no way he uld be tough and father always advised him to “go for the biggt guy” and, crippled by a life nial, he uld sublimate his rage and claw back self-worth by excellg at everythg physil, cludg was all a smokcreen for a new phase of his life, glorly gurated at Sydney gay pub The Exchange.

LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT

“I had a sh of eedom and belongg and saw my first role mols, livg openly as gay men and women.

GAY RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SAYS HE'S SEEN MUCH 'GAYER' THGS IN SPORTS CHANGG ROOMS

Roberts would nvce them that he was gog to “50-50 clubs”, further throwg them off the trail by paradg wh betiful “girliends” at club 1984, an unlikely hero emerged for 19-year-old Roberts the form of New South Wal premier Neville Wran, who passed a law crimalisg homosexualy. ”It was the same year that Bronski Beat’s tortured g out anthem Smalltown Boy stormed world dancefloors, crystallisg the horror experience which a young suburban man is bashed for attendg a gay club and disowned by his father.

DAN PALMER, FORMER PRO GBY PLAYER, OUT AS GAY TEAR-JERKER OP-ED

Eventually old school Souths ach Gee Piggs nonted Roberts about his sexualy, pleadg wh him to stop gog to the gay clubs.

Early the 1989 season a gossip em wrten unr a nom plume appeared the Sun Herald statg Roberts had been spotted a gay club. In the followg game Roberts was baed by Bulldogs players and openly vilified by fans, the thought of a gay player fuellg the passns of the wilst Jack, pictured after a brawl wh Roberts 1991.

RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYERS ATRALIA TO BOYTT KEY MATCH OVER GAY PRI JERSEY

Roberts was bone tired om pretendg, but they both advised him to keep a fay secret until after his years later Roberts tormented gby league media and fans further by agreeg to a nu shoot Blue, a new gay magaze, but did not fively say he was gay. Many the muny viewed Roberts’s g out as a way to save liv, particularly wh high rat of gay teen suici blamed on a lack of posive role mols. Roberts appreciated the honty but uld not buy to the belief that the fans and sponsors would not tolerate a gay man.

10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT

Peter FzSimons the Sydney Morng Herald was clear on the impact of the announcement: “Roberts is not the first gay footballer, but the first wh the urage to live openly. “It mt have been difficult for him to adm he’s gay, om a tough town wh zero tolerance, ” he says.

”Moments and events accumulate to create change and as the first gay ntact sport player to e out durg a reer, Ian Roberts ss wh sports diversy pneers Jackie Robson and Marta Navratilova. I n only image how mt feel to be a gay gby league player today’s tly pas me to thk that wh our game, those players still feel a need to hi. Yet gay players and the LGBTQI+ muny more broadly … that’s one group we’ve mostly left alone.

I n only speak for myself, but if a guy me out my team and said, ‘I’m gay’, personally I wouldn’t give a sh. If the young men who are refg to play wh rabow strip on a jersey later have a child who is born gay, do they disown them? Image the stris that uld be ma terms of unrstandg and acceptance, not jt wh gby league but wir years, the NRL have had a float at Sydney’s Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras.

DAN PALMER PRAISED AFTER BEG FIRST WALLABI PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

That we n help end the cycle of gay people havg to hi themselv away, and all the emotnal damage that would be groundbreakg. Former Manly forward Ian Roberts, who the 1990s was the first high-profile gby league player to e out as gay, said he was not surprised by the players’ cisn.

In light of recent ntroversy regardg homophobic slurs by Israel Fol, we thought we would she a light on 10 fluential gay gby personali. The players have bee a bean of light bee they overme stereotyp and other challeng faced by homosexual athlet way too often. In this article, we’ll name ten of the most notable gay gby personali, analyze their acplishments, discs how they are shapg the game today, and asss their impact on the overall perceptn of homosexual profsnal athlet around the world.

ALAI UNED MIDFIELR JOSH CAVALLO BE FIRST CURRENT A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HE'S GAY

That beg said, due to s physily, gby is regard as a “manly” sport, which mak more difficult for gay players to publicly acknowledge their preference. At the same time, there are many misnceptns about this betiful sport, which has led to the margalizatn and targetg of gay players. Some high-profile stars like Israel Fol have recently ma headl due to potentially homophobic posts on social media.

This is one of the ma reasons why reprentativ of World Rugby met wh the lears of Internatnal Gay Rugby (IGR) to help eradite homophobia and tolerance om the game.

Here’s a list of ten notable gay gby players and how they are shapg the game today. The very first high-profile gby player to ever e out to the public as gay is former Atralian ternatnal Ian Roberts.

RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

Even though Ian Roberts may have been the first high-profile player to openly adm beg gay, Keegan Hirst was the first to ever do while still active. Currently a Wakefield Try prop, Hirst has bee one of the most notable gay athlet, earng himself a startg role after signg a ntract wh the League si 2016.

Although he never played gby at a profsnal level, Mark Bgham has bee an inic figure for gay gby players and sportspeople around the world. Known for his heroics durg the September 11 attacks, Bgham was a robt send-row man who played for the gay-clive San Francis Fog RFC. The Mark Kendall Bgham Memorial Tournament, simply known as the Bgham Cup, is a biennial gay gby unn tournament which was held for the first time 2002.

Thomas publicly me out 2009 and has sce scribed his experience as a secretly gay player, revealg how the social prsure and stereotyp pose a signifint challenge for many athlet today. The Welshman is also a TV personaly and a voted activist for the LGBT e, wng “Gay Sports Personaly of the De” at the Stonewall awards ceremony London back 2015.