Dismantling Stereotypes: Eight Inspiring Gay Rugby Players and Personalities

Monday, 20 November 2017 at 21:26

bySteven Smith

While there are an estimated 500,000 competing rugby players in the world, there are still only a surprisingly small number of players who have been publicly open about their sexuality.

These players have become a beacon of light because they overcame stereotypes and other challenges faced by homosexual athletes way too often.

At RUCK, we've decided to look at some of the brave figures in rugby who have paved the way:

1. Nigel Owens

There's only one place to start.

In May 2007, Owens publicly came out as gay in an interview with Wales on Sunday. Reaction was mostly supportive. Owens said that coming out was a difficult decision, and that he had contemplated suicide when he was 26.

Shortly after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Owens was named 'Gay Sports Personality of the Year' at gay rights group Stonewall's awards ceremony in London.

He has since gone on to referee the Rugby World Cup final in 2015 before becoming the most capped official in Test history.

2. Keegan Hirst

In 2015 he became the first British professional rugby league player to come out as gay.

3. Isadora Cerullo

Following the final of the women's rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cerullo's partner of two years, Marjorie Yuri Enya, walked onto the field at Deodoro Stadium and publicly asked Cerullo to marry her.

The proposal was widely reported in the media, with Cerullo being the first athlete to accept a marriage proposal at the Olympics

4. Mark Bingham

Not a professional but deserves a special mention.

Mark, a gay rugby fan and sportsman, was a passenger on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001.

Bingham is widely credited with helping prevent further deaths when he helped lead a passenger revolt against hijackers who had seized control of the plane and begun to direct it towards a target in Washington DC.

Rushing the cockpit and risking their own lives, the passengers successfully overthrew the hijackers and managed to bring down the plane in a field.

All 44 people lost their lives aboard Flight 93, but their actions likely saved hundreds more – and Mark Bingham is remembered as one of the many heroes of 9/11.

The Bingham Cup, a biennial international rugby union competition predominantly for gay and bisexual men, was established in 2002 in his memory.

5. Louisa Wall

Wall is a New Zealand Member of Parliament and former national representative netball and rugby union player.

She became famous and bigheaded long before she got into parliament. She was a Silver Fern at 17. She represented New Zealand in rugby. And she hit the headlines when she said she was gay, an unusual admission for a Kiwi rugby hero.

6. Gareth Thomas

Thomas came out as gay in December 2009. The following year he was voted the most influential gay person in the UK in the IoS Pink List and received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award.

The 43-year-old won 100 caps for Wales during his 16-year career while also representing the Barbarians and the British & Irish Lions.

7. Ian Roberts

In 1995 Roberts became the first high-profile Australian sports person and first rugby footballer in the world to come out to the public as gay.

He was praised for helping to question prevailing myths about gays and sport. Paul Freeman wrote a book on Roberts, Ian Roberts – Finding Out, which was published in 1997