Australian rules footballer comes out as gay

Australian rules football star Rhyian Anderson-Morley has come out as gay.

The Yarraville Seddon Eagles player revealed that he “stopped playing sport” as a youngster when he realised that he was gay, before realising that there was no reason for him not to play.

He explained in a column for The Age: “I learnt what it really meant to be a homosexual man. And, surprisingly enough, it was pretty similar to being a normal man.”

However, he added that he chose not to “parade” his sexuality around for a number of reasons.

“One was that the first thing I learnt about footy was that no individual is bigger than the team. I knew that some people might not like the idea of playing with a gay bloke, and I didn’t want to upset the team atmosphere, especially when I was just trying to learn the ropes.

“Not that I was secretive. I never lied about it. One of the blokes at my club asked me and I told him. I also told a couple when the topic came up. In each case, I met with positive reactions.

“But as a gay footballer, I see several different attitudes to homophobia in our game, and all have cropped up in recent weeks. I’d call them the good, the bad and the ugly,” he wrote.

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