On never doubting Thomas

The significance of Gareth Thomas’s confession cannot be underestimated. At a time when his team mates would be swapping shirts, he could only think of lifting his.

It comes as no surprise to anyone west of Offa’s Dyke – it has long been rumoured that Alfie was equally at home at inside or outside centre. But to have it revealed, nay paraded in front of us in such a way is, for many rugby fans, a difficult thing.

Everyone knows someone who is gay – indeed, some of my best friends tell me they have best friends who are gay. But to have the winner of 100 Welsh caps, a former Lions captain, a legend of the game admit that his idea of a good time is a foot long hot dog with lashings of KY sauce has rocked even the most PC of rugby fans.

If he had been a squash player, a swimmer, or even a cricketer, then fine. But a rugby player? It strikes at the very heart of our long held belief that all rugby players like nothing more than 16 pints, a cheap curry and then a night with any girl drunk enough to accept them.

Thomas himself is not diminished by this announcement. It is the game of rugby which has been jolted from its pedestal. Not so long ago, there was a gay rugby team in the UK – they struggled for fixtures because too many opposition teams had questioned their binding techniques, but they served a handy function - a place where non conventional rugby players could go.

Now it seems as though the floodgates are about to open, and poofters will fess up in teams all over the country. It’s not such an issue in Wales – we all knew about Alfie, we had to deal with Cliff Morgan’s shenanigans, and we are rugby minded enough not to care so long as they play well, but how will the Poms handle it when they learn that Jeremy Guscott, or Bill Beaumont prefer running onto the inside ball?

At a time when the IRB are looking closely at the rucking laws, perhaps they could also re-legislate the f@cking ones as well. We need a game which is entirely unreconstructed, a last bastion for the few who have not lost their heads to the PC nonsense e which has seeped into our world. Ban lifting in the bedroom as well as the line out, and allow unlimited use of the boot in the ruck.

It is, of course, deeply ironic that he chose to come out in the Mail.