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

Contents:

• JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT
• 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
• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB
• STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB
• NEW FILM G TO AMAZON PRIME SHOWS HOW THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB SAVED LIV AND SMASHED STEREOTYP
• HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON
• STEELERS: HOW ANTI-GAY ROW SPIRED GBY FILM

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

The former Wallabi prop scribed a moment when he was drivg recklsly, the feelg of “ath felt preferable to anybody disverg [he] was gay. Not jt any gby club, the world’s first gay gby club, the Kgs Cross Steelers London.

Here, queer people were reclaimg their place on the pch – an arena they grew up beg told they didn’t belong Israel Fol began postg “hell awas homosexuals” on social media I realised I had to tell the story of the club – and my own story. Photograph: One Man Band MediaIn fact, om this sgle club, there are now 80 gay and clive gby clubs around the world cludg five Atralia.

There was the ocsnal homophobic sledge, but over time the Steelers won the rpect of the straight burly Brish men bee not only did they beat them on ocsn, they showed them that we’re all pretty much the forward to me takg my mera to Amsterdam to film the club at the Bgham Cup, the world cup of “rabow” gby. It was only when Israel Fol began postg “hell awas homosexuals” on social media that I realised I had to tell the story of the club – and my own like Dan Palmer, I too have Fol to thank small part.

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

His pennt documentary Steelers: the World’s First Gay Rugby Club is cemas across Atralia now.

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. 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.

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

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.

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

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.

STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB

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.

“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.

STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB

“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.

NEW FILM G TO AMAZON PRIME SHOWS HOW THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB SAVED LIV AND SMASHED STEREOTYP

Flick through the gallery for the story behd other openly gay athlet. However, that's not to say 's easy, of urse, and a sport as eply rooted heterosexual masculy as gby is, n be Kgs Cross Steelers were formed 1995 by a group of gay men a pub —spoiler alert—Kg's Cross. Their aim was to create the first gay-clive gby unn team the world.

Twenty years later they have a membership of over 120 and are four-time wners of the European Champnships for gay gby story of the world's first gay gby team starts, surprisgly, wh Tory MP and soon to be Lord, Robert Hayward. "We never set out as some kd of gay csa. In the early days the Steelers were treated wh cursy by the opposn: "Lots of people, particularly the olr people, would ask how we knew we were gay and where we found our players, " Hayward tells me.

"I wasn't openly gay at that pot and I didn't feel fortable talkg about . "Throughout the club there are stori of players who were keen gby players at school, who were then shunned as soon as they me out as gay.

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

He's played gby for three years, firstly wh the Cardiff Lns, a gay-clive team, before movg to London two years ago. I ask him whether beg an openly gay man had been a barrier to jog clubs prevly.

So g out to a "straight" club as a gay man mt only make that jog procs even more terrifyg—a feelg Ollie allus to: "When I asked to jo the Cardiff Lns I thought that I was a reasonably nfint person at that pot my life, and I uld jo a straight team, " he says. I also didn't have a group of gay iends, so I thought this would be a great opportuny to meet likemd people. "Homophobic cints are credibly rare for the team.

STEELERS: HOW ANTI-GAY ROW SPIRED GBY FILM

Chairman Alex has played gay-clive teams for eight years, three at the Steelers and five for a Manchter team, and has only experienced two stanc of homophobic behavr. My mat played for a straight team Bristol that had three gay players, but I still uldn't brg myself to do , " he Chris, the Steelers had been more than jt a gby club: he'd moved to London on a Sunday, gone for a social that night, and begun playg on the Tuday.