Gay NRL Player Ian Roberts Has Spoken Out About Manly’s Pride Jersey

“Teenagers are dying. Kids are killing themselves in the suburbs. They are taking their lives because they think the world hates them for being gay. Episodes like this don’t help.”

Former Manly Sea Eagles player and the only man to come out as gay while actively playing NRL Ian Roberts has spoken out after the club’s historic pride jersey made headlines on Tuesday.

Seven players will not play in this week’s crucial game against the Sydney Roosters, citing cultural and religious reasons that prevent them from wanting to wear the pride jersey. The club will now be forced to play with only a 20 player list, instead of the usual 22 man squad, with at least three players set to make their debut in a game that is crucial for the club’s finals hopes.

Following the boycott, Roberts — a Manly great who came out in 1995 — has penned an opinion piece on the topic, and given multiple media appearances.

In an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald entitled I wore my Manly jersey, and my sexuality, with pride. Now I’m heartbroken, Roberts said he was “heartbroken” but is “trying not to be angry”.

Roberts congratulated the club — and former teammate and now-coach of the Sea Eagles Des Hasler — on the initiative.

“Your heart was in the right place, and you operated from a place of love. We need more initiatives exactly like this and it is through such actions that we change the world,” said Roberts, adding that — despite what ARL boss Peter V’landys said earlier in the week — sports is inherently political. “Sport is political, and it can change the world, the way the Olympian Peter Norman did supporting the Black Power salutes, the way Nicky Winmar did, the way Cathy Freeman did. This is our turn.”

But while he thanked his former team, Roberts was quick to express his disappointment in the league for frankly not doing enough to support inclusion. While the AFL has held an annual pride round since 2016, the NRL is yet to implement any sort of equivalent, and still has a seriously lack of league-wide conversations around inclusivity.

“To the NRL, I confess my disappointment. You have been so strong in so many areas, and never more than back in 2017 when you had Macklemore sing Same Love at the grand final. I will never forget the 80,000 NRL fans singing along. As I said to the NRL CEO Todd Greenberg immediately afterwards: ‘This will save lives!’,” said Roberts. “And it really has.

“But where have you been lately? I’ve been at you for the past five years to have a Pride Round and you talked for a bit, and said it was a great proposal of mine, but then the conversation suddenly stopped. Doesn’t this latest episode show that there is still work to be done in our football community on this? We need a Pride Round. It’s about celebration and inclusion and it’s about welcoming people and letting people know that they’re worthy of being a part of this great game.”

While he called for more inclusivity in the sport and knew about the pride jersey before even the players and coaching staff at Manly, Roberts was quick to stress that he was “trying to understand” players’ reasoning behind boycotting and hoped they could understand him. He stressed to the players boycotting that people are simply born gay, and have no choice in the matter and also pointed out that people — regardless of gender or sexuality — deserve the same respect that players get, noting the high suicide rates of LGBTIQ people.

“Sport is political, and it can change the world.”

“Teenagers are dying. Kids are killing themselves in the suburbs. They are taking their lives because they think the world hates them for being gay. Episodes like this don’t help. Do you get that? I implore you to reconsider your position on this. It makes an enormous difference to them.”

The lengthy opinion piece comes after Roberts bravely fronted the media on Tuesday to share stories of losing friends to suicide due to homophobia, stressing the importance of these initiatives.

“This is very personal to me as an older gay person, because I’ve lost friends to suicide,” Roberts told media on Tuesday. “I wish I could sit around a table with those players and explain that unfortunately there are kids out in the suburbs, out in the regions today, who might not have heard many stories in the last month, but I can promise you they heard this story.”

Roberts has been pushing for the NRL to introduce a Pride Round for “three or four years”, but claims the conversation has repeatedly been pushed back.

Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans and ARL boss Peter V’landys have now publicly thrown their support behind the idea.