Celebratg 20 Years of the World's First Gay Rugby Club

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’
• HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON
• KGS CROSS STEELERS, THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY RUGBY TEAM, SOUND OFF ON TEAMWORK AND BROTHERHOOD
• WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB THAT BEAT THE BIGOTS BY TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA GETS S OWN FILM
• CELEBRATG 20 YEARS OF THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB
• STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB
• STEELERS: THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY RUGBY TEAM
• ‘FDG THIS MUNY IS HUGE’: STORY OF WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM PTURED ON FILM
• JOZI CATS: AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM TACKL HOMOPHOBIA

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

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. 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.

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. “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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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

"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. World's first gay gby club that beat the bigots by tacklg homophobia gets s own film 25 years after beg found by Tory peer Lord HaywardKg's Cross Steelers were first set up 1995 at the world's first gay gby clubThe team was found by Tory Lord Hayward, who is also s chairmanA documentary lled 'Steelers' is set to screen at the Glasgow film ftival A team member - a TV news reporter – said he was spired to make the film after Atralian gby player Israel Fol said 2019 that ‘hell awas’ homosexuals Updated: 08:32 BST, 20 Febary 2021. The club was found 1995 as the first gay Rugby club by Tory Lord, Robert HaywardBack the 1980s at the height of the Aids panmic, he sat silent rage on the Commons backbench as fellow Conservative MPs dulged anti-gay rhetoric.

He felt ‘eply unfortable’, not least bee he was stgglg to e to terms wh his own electns expert who has advised Boris Johnson, Thera May and David Cameron, Hayward didn’t clare he was gay until a few years after he left the Commons was around the time he got volved wh the gby film featur players such as Drew McDowell, whose off-pch alter ego is drag queen ‘Drewalic’ member Eammon Ashton-Atkson – a TV news reporter – said he was spired to make the film after Atralian gby player Israel Fol said 2019 that ‘hell awas’ homosexuals.

Pictured: Players for the Kg's Cross Steelers actn agast a rival team Club member Eammon Ashton-Atkson – a TV news reporter – said he was spired to make the film after Atralian gby player Israel Fol said 2019 that ‘hell awas’ homosexuals. The ia for the team me om Jason Anrson, a member of the Atlanta Bucks, an tablished Internatnal Gay Rugby (IGR) December 3, 2016, Patrick Button (Past Print) vised Atlanta for the weekend and attend Rugby 101 wh the Atlanta Bucks.

KGS CROSS STEELERS, THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY RUGBY TEAM, SOUND OFF ON TEAMWORK AND BROTHERHOOD

In return Jason suggted that would be great if New Orleans had their very own Internatnal Gay Rugby (IGR) took the iative to start puttg a team together, reachg out to prospective players and dividuals the Rugby muny, both New Orleans and elsewhere, that uld help. “It was gay gby players — across the natn and ternatnal — that me together a group to discs gay culture, the sport, we started hostg Zoom lls so we uld have that social teractn we weren’t gettg bee of the panmic, ” Fisher says. As a rult, has tradnally rerced an orthodox form of twentieth-century masculy that is lked to those who are whe, middle class, able-bodied, and, most important to this analysis, heterosexual (Symons, 2009) is now wily regnized, however, that twenty-first-century sport is a social stutn that shap and impacts upon the liv of gay and lbian athlet too.

Sce soclogist first began to qutn the role that sport plays the productn and reproductn of mascule inty the mid-1980s (Dunng, 1986), there was a slow progrsn om examg sport as a se of male ntrol over women, to regnizg the tersectn between sport and sexualy that rults om the largely heteronormative and homophobic culture of profsnal sport the 1990s and the first of the twenty-first century (Rowe, Markwell, & Stevenson, 2006) was this hospable perd of time that gave rise to sexual orientatn-segregated sportg spac for gay men. Concerng the foc of this chapter, gby, the first soclogil vtigatn occurred the Uned Kgdom by Price and Parker (2003) and they found the existence of the untry’s first gay club (formed 1995) was prcipally anized around pg perceived or actual homophobia of mastream new Millennium brought chang attus toward homosexualy, not only to society, but also to mastream sport (Anrson, 2014). Exemplifyg this shift empirilly, the first prehensive vtigatn of the experienc of gay mal playg on ostensibly heterosexual teams was nducted by Anrson 2005, and he found that matters had begun to change.

This was a fdg that was affirmed by yet further outlook upon the gay male athlet by straight men 2011 (Anrson, 2011), has been repeatedly shown that heterosexual athlet, generally, are creasgly acceptg of homosexualy (Anrson, Magrath, & Bullgham, 2016; Anrson & McCormack, 2015; Bh, Anrson, & Carr, 2012) reason for this acceptance has to do wh changg attudal disposn toward gay men and changg masculy among heterosexual mal. 347) was the first to e the term “clive masculy” to scribe mascule performanc that view hegemonic masculy as unsirable wh a willgns to embrace femy “ls ncerned wh migatg homosexual spicn through homophobia and heterosexism”.

WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB THAT BEAT THE BIGOTS BY TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA GETS S OWN FILM

There is also evince for creasg societal acceptance of gay athlet and a softeng of media attus toward gay male athlet both the Uned Kgdom and Uned Stat wh a shift toward clive masculy (Cleland, 2014, 2018; Kian & Anrson, 2009) and MasculyRugby, which Dunng (1986, p. In this manner, twentieth-century gby players nsolidated their masculy wh gby servg to privilege prence of gay players the hypermascule, physil gby environment may be the ultimate subversn of the myth of gay men beg effemate and un-mascule (Symons, 2010), a siar manner to the challeng to tradnal nstctns of femy that female players prent (Wright & Clarke, 1999).

This is bee the volvement of gay players a space that has been a fundamental source of heterosexual male power unrm masculy and challeng the boundary between gay and straight mal and ultimately the perceived differenc between men and women as a whole (Anrson, 2002) example, former Welsh ternatnal player, Gareth Thomas—who is one of the most well-known and rpected players Welsh gby history (McGivern & Miller, 2017; Zhu, 2016)—me out December 2009, to an “overwhelmgly supportive” rponse (McCormack & Anrson, 2010, p.

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

His rerd as one of the most succsful players the sport, bed wh his mascule appearance and physil playg style were certaly ntrary to the mythil reprentatns of gay mal and may expla the posive rponse. Th, there has been a softeng of the culture associated wh playg gby, driven by younger players g through the system who are creasgly rejectg, if not challengg the prevly accepted e of homophobic disurse that is ed by olr members of the gby muny. 118) and a haven for those who had been exclud or ostracized om the mastream gby their analysis, Price and Parker (2003) examed the Kgs Cross Steelers Rugby Football Club, an amatr gby club based London and the self-claimed world’s first gay gby club.

Atralia’s first gay gby club, the Sydney Convicts have been embraced by the cy’s gby muny wh s founr Andrew Purchas award the Orr of Atralia medal that regniz outstandg achievement and service by Atralians.

STEELERS: THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY RUGBY CLUB

Fdg participants for this rearch was not difficult as the number of clive men’s gby teams has grown om ls than a dozen clubs one ago to eighty-four clubs the Uned Kgdom and Wtern Europe as regnized by and registered wh the Internatnal Gay Rugby Board. Semi-stctured terviews of ten players om each team occurred alongsi, participant observatn and wrten rpons to a participant-requted qutnnaire provid sight to the ratnale as to why the men seek to bee members of the nearly all gay men clive clubs. As one gay player said wh a lgh, “They jt don’t know they’re gay yet” the nature of clive club members who participated this rearch we opted to exclu heterosexual members of the clubs (only five heterosexual players were intified over the urse of the rearch).

The purpose, rather, was to explore via a ground theoretil approach the possibly changg stcture of gby the Uned Kgdom as relat to the rise clive gay men’s gby teams and their impact on the sport England and beyond. That fdg alone mak this rearch novel: This is not the experience of gay men clive clubs prevly (Price & Parker, 2003) addn, the nature of masculi as pertas to the social, cultural, and temporal experience of many of the participants was examed but did not bee a central foc of this rearch. Instead, our thematic dg found three new areas of tert this vtigatn: (1) the social pal sought by and gaed by many participants on clive men’s gby clubs, (2) clubs’ prence for many gay men as a “safe haven”, and (3) for some gay men their participatn wh the clive gby club was merely a hobby and a means for them to meet other gay men wh siar terts sport.

He later wanted to expla that he unrstood that not only his fellow clive men’s gby teammat saw him as a gay man and member of the club, but that when he wore his Hampshire jersey on non-gby days while walkg or travelg around town other townspeople “probably knew” he is gay. The nversatn wh the two spectators/former players was direct reference to ncerns exprsed by rearchers regard to ncsns and the effect of improper tacklg techniqu on younger players England and elsewhere (Pollock, Whe, & Kirkwood, 2017) then followed was a nversatn between the two approximately seventy-year-old former Rochter Rugby Club players when asked about chang the sexual orientatn/genr inty of current players, and not the laws of the game, regard to acceptance of gay men most levels of the sport.

STEELERS: THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY RUGBY TEAM

A few sub-them emerged discsg the rise of clive gby teams wh admistrators, spectators, gay players, and players om non-clive clubs, openly intifyg as gay or otherwise, when the first rearcher met wh members of an clive gay men’s club and men om another non-clive club. At the re of McCormack and Wignall’s argument is tent; and the tent of the men was that of bondg through banter the way McCormack and Anrson (2010) have also shown occurs between gay and straight male ncept of the “normalcy” of homosexualy arose a number of tim durg other terviews wh the clive gby team members. Asked why he and his gay teammat did not ntue playg gby wh their straight iends, he psed as he looked across at another field where approximately fifty men age seventeen to approximately thirty-five were trag while his clive team’s group of twenty players worked out on another field, and said, “It jt was done that way” the advent of the first openly all-gay men’s team, the London Steelers, the mid-1990s and then the San Francis Fog 2001, gay men were not seen as mascule enough (Anrson, 2005b), as one clive team player said, to play gby after sendary school and to their universy years.

‘FDG THIS MUNY IS HUGE’: STORY OF WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM PTURED ON FILM

What this separatn of straight and gay gby players effectively did was create a divisn of active gby participatn between the two groups begng at age ten to twelve years (om sendary school to universy) until well after universy years. Interviews wh the clive team players suggt that most of the gay men did not re-emerge on the gby scene until they were their late twenti to early men, seekg to fd a team for which they uld play, would oftentim, many players said, approach a “normal” team’s club admistrator or pta and say they were terted playg.

“We get ”, the pta said as the four walked back to their trag notn of homophobia, perceived or otherwise, rarely emerged discsg the “safe haven” ncept wh the clive team players and is discsed below.

It remas rare to have an openly gay man playg at higher levels of gby the Uned Kgdom and elsewhere; is not necsarily seen as homophobia or discrimatn agast gay men, although the homophobia certaly exists parts of gby culture. Rather, as noted above, is the systemic nature of the excln of gay men and boys durg their school years that apparently is leadg to a form of self-segregatn by the gay men and boys asked about that possibily, several of the players disagreed and said they had played on other gby teams that were, at the time, clive. Fdg clive gay men’s gby clubs England and now the Uned Stat was once very difficult, but players noted that once clive teams were advertisg for players, their perceptns of the sport and notns of homophobia were dispelled.

JOZI CATS: AI’S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM TACKL HOMOPHOBIA

Carl, age twenty-seven and a member of the same team as Adam’s, add, “I origally joed an clive team to see whether gay men uld actually do sports and sce I have bee sgle, I have bee more volved as a way of meetg people and potential boyiends”. Muir (2019) found that nearly all gay men playg gby the Uned Stat had experienced some form of homophobia eher durg a match or Amerin player noted that when he first joed his team the southern Uned Stat ( 2012) most heterosexual teams ially refed to play agast a gay team.