A rugby club in the UK is refuting claims that it is homophobic this week, following an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald that quoted former team member Jay Claydon as being ousted from the club after teammates learned he was openly gay in his private life.
Claydon, now based in Sydney playing for the Sydney Convicts, wrote that he had come out to close family and friends when he was 18-years-old, but remained closeted to his teammates over fear that he wouldn’t be fully accepted.
Claydon writes:
At training one night, people were looking at me funny. Somehow they’d found out.
On the Friday night, I got a call from my coach saying the players had taken a vote at a meeting behind my back and they weren’t comfortable having me in the team any more. He said, “they don’t want you to come back.”
Claydon declined to name the rugby club accused of ousting him, leading both his former teams in Canterbury to boldly insist that it was not theirs. The paper identified a club in Kaiapoi as the one most likely linked to the allegations.
“It’s such a stereotype, but at most clubs they see a gay guy and think you can’t be sporty or masculine,” Claydon wrote. “They think that you’re weak or you’re not as tough as them. Even when they didn’t know I was gay I’d hear the word ‘faggot’ all the time.” Furthermore, Claydon claimed that “homophobic slurs were an accepted part of sporting culture.”
Claydon is apparently a great player, identified by the SMH as a “promising” up-and-coming star who was recruited to play for Kaiapoi at a young age, winning the 2006 North Canterbury championship while still in high school. His initial allegations were printed in a story that claimed a shocking 13 percent of out athletes fall victim to physical assaults at the hands of their teammates.
Kaiapoi officials refuse to provide an official statement, even though coaches from Claydon’s other former Canterbury team hailed him as a “valued [former] member of our club.”
Stache99
Hate to say it but Rugby isn’t know to attract many deep thinkers. Just lots of testosterone and thick skulls.
Malcontent
The first line of the article needs correcting: it’s not Canterbury in the UK but Canterbury in New Zealand.
DB75
@Stache99: I’m trying to find the negative in what you posted. ha ha Sounds like a fun time to me!
sesfm
Judging from this website, it’s only hot athletes that have problems.
Stache99
@sesfm: That’s just untrue. Queerty gives plenty of time to other professions and their issues. All you have to be is young and hot which leaves athletes and actors mostly.
vive
@Stache99, and the hottest men in creation.
gymmuscleboy
Does Kaiapoi sound like an English place name to you? No, it’s Maori. This is Canterbury, New Zealand!
Dixie Rect
I bet Miss Rogers is in a tizzy over this.
stella1617
The story that he portrays is masking the real reason he got dismissed. Two sides to every story.
Mikah
Well you know the rules, if you don’t stick your penis in a vagina you’re seen as inadequate for some idiotic heterosexist reason.Straight guys are ridiculous and sexually insecure.It’s pathetic.
Dxley
Wow, Dixie! Do you know Rogers in real life? Did he reject you or are you a bitter ex-boyfriend? Your hatred for the man is quite extreme. You rarely ever comment on any post but as soon as you see his face, you just have to express your hate for him, and on posts that aren’t even about him. It’s actually creepy!
Evji108
He’s hot
manonyme
These numbnuts never cease amaze…If you have a teammate for X amount of time and have/had zero objections to him as a player, why then, freak out about his sexuality when no one felt threatened prior to knowing. It would be different if the guy was cruising in the locker room or making others uncomfortable. . .
Furthemore, Rugby has s o m e nerve. First, those shorts they wear?? The “scrum” which just leaves out a few letters. . . then all the shots one can find of these players engaged in seriously homoerotic displays.