The UK’s and possibly the worlds first openly gay international team rugby play has come out in support of England’s Steven Davies and praised his coming out.
In a nice report from the Daily Mirror, Gareth Thomas talks of the importance of coming out, the effect it has on the sport in general as well as individual teams. He also talks for the need to stamp out homophobia in the world of professional sport, be it rugby, football or indeed cricket.
Here’s some of what Gareth wrote - England wicket keeper Steven Davies’ decision to come out is hugely important – because we can now add cricket to the short list of sports where someone has had the bravery and honesty to tell the world they’re gay.
I was the first rugby player in the country to come out and now Steven has become the first in cricket – we will see what the future holds for other sports like football.
I’m really pleased for Steven that he showed the courage and strength to tell everyone who he is, and I’m glad to see that he got the full support of the people who matter – his family and team-mates.
His bravery could inspire men and women, not just in cricket but other sports like professional football, not to be ashamed of their sexuality.
I know how difficult it is to come out, especially in the public eye, but now he will no longer have to live a lie like I did for so many years.
Ultimately what Steven is finding out, like I did, is that even though people class gay men or women as being different, those around you and close to you don’t even care about the fact you’re gay.
They just see you as the man you have always been, and your sexuality has nothing to do with it.
What I discovered was that you won’t find any better friends than team-mates. Your team and your family see you for who you really are and the person you want to be known as, just another sportsman like everybody else.
When you make such a brave decision, they respect you even more. They know how much sport means to you, and they know that’s what you want to focus on. Your team is more than a group of friends, it’s almost like a second family.
Of course, you have to be able to take some jokes and banter about it in the changing room, but it’s disappointing that more sportsmen have not come out.
People in football have not created an environment where people are comfortable to come out.
Supporters on the terraces of a football pitch, they’re willing to cross the line between passion and abuse.
I think as a footballer you want to enjoy giving your all to the game but if you’ve got 50,000 people shouting abuse at you that’s going to be pretty much impossible. Still, I think it’s sad that no Premiership football players have come out yet.
The governing body of rugby league have said there’s no room in this sport for any form of abuse or hatred. And they don’t just say it, they act on it. When I got booed in Castleford, the fans got banned from the ground and the team got fined.
That sends a message out to the rest of rugby league that if you’re a fan of your team and you want to hurl abuse, you’re not really supporting that team because we’re going to slap a fine on them.
The Football Association clamped down on racism, saying there’s no place in football for it, so why should there be a place in football for homophobic abuse?
You don’t need to wait until it happens, the governing body can create an environment where homophobia is unacceptable.
Then people will come out knowing that they will not receive abuse when they have the guts to do it.
For the full article - mirror.co.uk
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