Rugby: former Australian international Kane Evans comes out and denounces pressure from the sporting world – STOP Homophobia Association

Former Australian rugby union player Kane Evans, who played for Fiji on the international stage, came out this week during a television interview. A speech that highlights nearly twenty years of internal struggle in a sporting environment where these subjects still remain largely taboo.

Having passed through the National Rugby League (NRL), one of the most demanding rugby league championships in the world, the 32-year-old explains that he understood his sexual orientation very early on, without ever being able to accept it publicly. The social pressure and codes of virility very present in this sport have had a lasting impact, to the point of making any visibility impossible, he says.

“I spent years trying to be the man others expected.”he confides. It evokes a period marked by depression, addictions, episodes of great insecurity and suicidal thoughts. He also claims to have been confronted with attempts at pressure and blackmail linked to his situation.

His testimony illustrates the effects of silence around LGBTQIA+ people in professional sport. “It wasn’t just a secret, it was a matter of survivalâ€he explains, saying today he feels “finally a form of inner peace” after making his sexual orientation public.

In rugby union, players who have come out remain extremely rare. The best-known reference remains that of Ian Roberts, the first professional player to have publicly spoken about his homosexuality in 1995. Since then, there have been developments, but the speeches remain exceptional.

The reaction from the world of rugby was generally positive, with several figures welcoming Kane Evans’ approach, including Ian Roberts himself, who gave him his public support. This solidarity contrasts with the still frequent silence around these questions in many locker rooms.

In France, Jérémy Clamy-Edroux, former pillar of Rouen Normandie Rugby, remains to this day the only professional player to have come out while active, in 2021 in the documentary Faut qu’on parole, broadcast on Canal+. A welcome speech, but still isolated.

These trajectories, distant but close in what they reveal, remind us how visibility remains difficult to achieve in men’s team sports. Each testimony contributes to cracking a silence that is still largely present.

For many LGBTQIA+ athletes, the issue goes beyond the intimate framework: it directly affects mental health, safety and the possibility of exercising their career without concealment.