10 Inspirg Gay Rugby Players and Personali

Contents:

• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• FORMER NEW ZEALAND GBY PLAYER CAMPBELL JOHNSTONE BE FIRST ALL BLACK TO E OUT AS GAY
• WORLD’S FIRST GAY GBY CLUB TURNS 20: ‘NO-ONE HAD SEEN PLAYERS LIKE BEFORE’
• DAN PALMER PRAISED AFTER BEG FIRST WALLABI PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT
• GAY GBY PLAYER DEV IBAñEZ & HIS BF JT CELEBRATED THEIR FIRST PRI TOGETHER, & WE HAVE MAJOR FOMO
• MEET GARETH THOMAS, FIRST GBY PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• LESTER’S NICK MCCARTHY OUT AS GAY AND THANKS CLUB FOR THEIR SUPPORT

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

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.

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.

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

Notable homosexual gby players and personali.

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. 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.

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

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. Sam Stanley beme the first openly gay Rugby Unn and Sevens player the UK. 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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. 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.

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

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.

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

But when the Kgs Cross Steelers lnched two s ago, homosexual profsnal gby players were unheard of. 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. “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.

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

“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.

Palmer tailed the mental health issu and dg problems he experienced when g to terms wh his sexualy, although he said he never felt discrimated agast durg his playg the long-nng Israel Fol saga, which rulted the wger’s sackg by Rugby Atralia after he posted on social media that “hell awas” gay people, was a ntributg factor his cisn to wre the lumn.