World's first gay gby club 20 years on | CNN

Contents:

• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• 10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT
• FORMER NEW ZEALAND GBY PLAYER CAMPBELL JOHNSTONE BE FIRST ALL BLACK TO E OUT AS GAY
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• GAY GBY PLAYER DEV IBAñEZ & HIS BF JT CELEBRATED THEIR FIRST PRI TOGETHER, & WE HAVE MAJOR FOMO
• JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT
• THE URAGEO JOURNEY OF IAN ROBERTS, GBY LEAGUE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
• MEET GARETH THOMAS, FIRST GBY PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• SAM STANLEY IS FIRST ENGLISH GBY PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY GBY LEAGUE PLAYER KEEGAN HIRST OUT OF RETIREMENT
• GAY RUGBY PLAYER CAMPBELL JOHNSTONE ON COMG OUT
• U.S. PRO GBY PLAYER DEV IBAñEZ OUT AS GAY
• LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT

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

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.

10 GAY RUGBY PLAYERS WHO MA THEIR COME OUT

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

FORMER NEW ZEALAND GBY PLAYER CAMPBELL JOHNSTONE BE FIRST ALL BLACK TO E OUT AS GAY

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. What started when six iends met a bar north London 1995, wh the ia of formg a gay-clive gby team, has sce turned to a club wh over 150 members and three teams. The Steelers have won the European petn for gay gby clubs, the Unn Cup, on four ocsns.

As the 2015 Rugby World Cup enters s fal stag, there are no openly-gay players the tournament. However, wily-rpected gay referee Nigel Owens officiated three pool gam and a quarterfal, but is not volved this weekend’s semis.

He’s not alone his stggle – former Wal pta Gareth Thomas beme the first profsnal gby player to publicly announced he was gay 2009. But when the Kgs Cross Steelers lnched two s ago, homosexual profsnal gby players were unheard of.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

Homophobic crime numbers.

5, 597: The number of homophobic crim reported to police England and Wal 2014/1522%: Increase on prev year11%: Of all hate crim reported to police were based on victims’ sexual orientatn Figur urty the Home Office. This was 1990s Bra, and fear of the AIDS epimic was actually enough to put some teams off playg the all-gay Steelers such a high-ntact sport.

GAY GBY PLAYER DEV IBAñEZ & HIS BF JT CELEBRATED THEIR FIRST PRI TOGETHER, & WE HAVE MAJOR FOMO

“If you had said to me the early ’90s that out-gay men uld play a club like the Steelers, I’d have said was prehensible, ” says the club’s chairman, 43-year-old Alex Smh.

Bhell says the homophobia they experienced the early days wasn’t only attributable to AIDS fears. Smh says he n thk of “maybe two homophobic cints” the last he’s played for gay teams across the UK.

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

“I wasn’t an out-gay man at that pot and I found that creasgly difficult. “When I first played for a gay gby club, I turned up, put on my boots, and was exactly the same as any other gby club I’d ever played for – the difference was I felt I uld be myself a way I wasn’t at other clubs.

“I wasn’t openly gay. And there were a few ments, not directed at me but perhaps to the women who were the park, which ma me feel not feel like I wanted to reveal I was gay to them.

The Steelers are now also gearg up for the 2016 Bgham Cup, the biennial ternatnal gay tournament to be held Nashville, Tennsee, May. Wh over 50 gay gby clubs around the world today, ’s a long way om the days of six iends meetg a London pub wh a seemgly “prehensible” dream. Flick through the gallery for the story behd other openly gay athlet.

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

Rugby is one of the most loved sports the world and due to s physily, is regard as a “manly” sport, which mak more difficult for gay players to publicly acknowledge their preference. The players have bee a bean of light bee they overme stereotyp and other challeng faced by homosexual athlet way too often. Nigel Owens, one of the bt refere the world, is openly gay and has been vol about how the gby world has been hugely acmodatg.

It is the sport’s rponsibily to posively promote anti-homophobia, and anti-bullyg general, so that the majory of people who are acceptg have a lour voice than those who prott. In this article, we’ll look at 10 Gay Rugby Players and how they are shapg the game today. In the gby world, he tak cred as the very first high-profile player to ever e out to the public as gay.

After his Saturday afternoon on the pch, is reported that Roberts would spend Saturday night on Oxford Street, Sydney’s gay quarter. His brave actn saw other gay gby players g out publicly to nfs their sexual orientatn.

MEET GARETH THOMAS, FIRST GBY PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

Followg the footsteps of Ian Roberts who may have been the first high-profile player to openly adm beg gay, Keegan Hirst was arguably the first ever to do while still actively playg gby.

Currently a Wakefield Try prop, Hirst has bee one of the most notable gay athlet, earng him a startg role after signg a ntract wh the League si 2016. In an terview wh the Sunday Mirror, the now divorced father of two and self-nfsed gay tells of the moment he fally found the words to expla to his wife the reason they uld no longer be together.

SAM STANLEY IS FIRST ENGLISH GBY PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

Sam Stanley beme the first openly gay Rugby Unn and Sevens player the UK 2015. He fends himself by sayg, “Millns of people are the suatn, even people who have been Lrence’s (his partner) suatn and they are still married but are gay.

He is one of the current crop of players who have e out openly to say that they are gay.

As a young spired player he stated, “…this is pretty spirg for me as a fairly new player who happens to be gay, I had held off pursug gby bee of but the guys i play wh give no shs whatsoever and we have good banter about . Shame some ele gby players are still sayg anti-gay thgs on social media.

FIRST OPENLY GAY GBY LEAGUE PLAYER KEEGAN HIRST OUT OF RETIREMENT

A large athlete at 6 ft 4 (193 cm) and 225 pounds (102 kg), Bgham was a robt send-row man who played for the gay-clive San Francis Fog RFC and was a favore for his teammat the gby songs that he tght them. This also ma him bee an inic figure for gay gby players and sportspeople around the world.

GAY RUGBY PLAYER CAMPBELL JOHNSTONE ON COMG OUT

To honor him, The Mark Kendall Bgham Memorial Tournament, simply known as the Bgham Cup and was started 2002, is a biennial gay gby unn tournament is named after the former gby player. Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas was a profsnal Welsh Rugby player who broke one of the biggt taboos the sport when he announced his homosexualy 2009.

In 2010 he was voted the most fluential gay person the UK The Inpennt on Sunday Pk Listand received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year. He scribed his experience as a secretly gay player, revealg how social prsure and stereotyp pose a signifint challenge for many athlet today. He is a voted activist for the LGBT e, wng “Gay Sports Personaly of the De” at the Stonewall awards ceremony London back 2015.

The 36-year-old Texas-born athlete has e a long way om the homophobia she wnsed firsthand high school. “One of my iends got cut om the basketball team bee she was gay. She also thks that playg the game as a gay athlete is not really a big issue.

U.S. PRO GBY PLAYER DEV IBAñEZ OUT AS GAY

He was also the first profsnal gby unn player to announce that he was gay, when he me out 2009.

Thomas married his wife, Jemma, 2002, but they later divorced before he announced that he was gay 2009.

Former New Zealand gby player Campbell Johnstone beme the first All Black to e out publicly as gay, an terview wh TVNZ’s Seven Sharp on Monday. “If I n be the first All Black that out as gay and take away the prsure and stigma surroundg the issue n actually help other people, ” Johnstone said. In light of recent ntroversy regardg homophobic slurs by Israel Fol, we thought we would she a light on 10 fluential gay gby personali.

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

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. 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.