Happy Pride month, everyone! It’s not something I address often (it’s one of the least interesting things about me), but I am a gay rugby league fan. The temperature around current political discourse makes things like Pride month as important as ever, I’d argue, as we grapple with issues I had thought were left in the past. It is still, sadly, difficult to be queer in 2026. The UK was once the best place for LGBTQIA+ people in Europe, but now it is 22nd¹.

It is a rare thing to have an openly queer athlete in elite sport², and in such a tough sport as rugby league, it must be a very difficult thing to come to terms with and confront. That being said, it is not unheard of to have openly gay rugby league players, so I am writing this to celebrate those players who broke the mould in that regard, in the hope that it makes their path an easier one to walk for future generations.

Ian Roberts

The first name I’m going to mention here comes from Australia and is a true trailblazer. The former South Sydney, Wigan, Manly, and North Queensland Cowboys player became the first active rugby league player to come out in 1995, twenty years before the first British player to come out (we’ll get to him) did so.

Roberts was a former NSW State of Origin player, but was in the twilight of his playing career when he came out. He has subsequently become an advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and mental health conditions. He’s also enjoyed a varied life and career after hanging up his boots, twice standing as a candidate in Australian parliamentary elections (unsuccessfully), and training as an actor. He made a cameo appearance in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones as a bartender, as well as appearing in several Australian productions. He currently serves as a director of Qtopia Sydney, a queer history and culture museum.

Keegan Hirst

Probably the name most familiar to British rugby league fans when talking about gay players of the past. Keegan Hirst had enjoyed a nomadic rugby league career after being in the Bradford Bulls academy. He had spells at Dewsbury, Hunslet, Batley, and Featherstone, and in 2015, found himself back at Batley when he became the first active British rugby league player to come out as gay.

The revelation brought a new level of fame and recognition for Hirst, far beyond what a second-tier rugby league player would usually be afforded, and he used his platform to try to inspire others. His career after his coming out was still that of a journeyman, taking in a stint in the Super League for Wakefield Trinity, as well as brief stints at Halifax and back at Batley.

His Heightened public profile allowed him appearances on reality TV during his playing career, appearing on Channel 4’s First Dates and W’s Celebrity Haunted Hotel. These days, Hirst is still a visible online presence as a content creator and a personal trainer, founding and running his own company, Gay Man’s Coaching.

Gareth Roberts

A late convert to rugby league, Gareth Thomas was already a renowned and decorated Welsh rugby union player before making the jump to the ‘Northern code’ in 2010, and he joined Crusaders RL, the Super League’s Welsh expansion team. He came out as gay in 2009, prior to his code switch, becoming the first openly gay rugby union player.

His rugby league career wouldn’t be as illustrious as his union one was, however, as he racked up just thirty-one appearances for the Crusaders in the 13-a-side code. He received four caps for the Welsh RL team too, playing in the 2010 European Cup, which Wales won to secure a Four Nations spot for the following year.

After coming out, Thomas became a vocal supporter of the NSPCC and ChildLine, stating in an interview: “I don’t know if my life is going to be easier because I’m out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine, then it will have been worth it”³. He revealed in 2019 that he was HIV-positive, although he has an undetectable status, meaning it cannot be traced or passed on, and subsequently appeared in a documentary with the Terrance Higgins Trust. He was awarded a CBE in 2020.

Courtney Winfield-Hill

I started with an Aussie representative, so I’ll finish with one. This inclusion also shines a spotlight on openly queer female rugby league players, of whom there are more. Winfield-Hill is a dual-sport superstar, having started out as a pace bowler for the Queensland Fire cricket club. She made the jump to rugby league in 2018, following a move to England with her wife, Lauren Winfield-Hill (also a cricketer). Despite not playing the sport since the junior level, she was picked up by Leeds Rhinos, with whom she won both the Challenge Cup and Women’s Super League League Leaders’ Shield in her first season.

In 2019, she was appointed captain of the Leeds Rhinos and was named Woman of Steel for that season. She played for England (qualifying through residency rules) in the 2022 World Cup, appearing in all four of England’s matches, including their semi-final defeat to New Zealand, after which she announced her retirement from rugby league.

She has enjoyed a varied career post-playing as a coach in both cricket and rugby league on both sides of the world. She was also a member of Sky’s broadcast team in 2024, and at the start of 2024, she was appointed the RFL’s Senior Women and Girls’ Partner. Most recently, she has served as an assistant coach for the England women’s cricket team.

Written by Nathan Major (Site editor & Hull KR fan)

1. According to the ILGA Rainbow Map. ↩︎
2. This is generally more true of openly queer men than of women. ↩︎
3. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/19/gay-groups-applaud-gareth-thomas ↩︎