Johnstone’s brave decision vital for next player ... and the next

It’s been a big week – what a week – where opening any news app could bring you close to tears. Tears of heartbreak for the loss of life and property in the floods, tears of frustration for how it might have been if communications had rolled out as they should and, in the case of All Black #1056 Campbell Johnstone, tears of gratitude.

Yes, gratitude. There will be many Kiwis feeling quietly overwhelmed, in a very good way, by Johnstone’s decision to come out publicly as gay. This is a big, big deal. And yup, I know in a perfect world it shouldn’t be but we have a long way to go before we get to that place.

Johnstone’s been taken by surprise by the way his story has whizzed around the world in the days after his television interview; picked up in the UK, America and sports websites all over. It’s particularly touching to hear about the amount of support flowing his way, including messages from parents who know what a ray of hope this will be for their own children.

Johnstone has been careful to tell the truth about the coming-out experience; it’s a deeply personal decision, to be taken ‘‘when the time is right, when it’s a safe space… there is no rule, no law on how many people you have to tell or if you have to tell anyone.’’

He’s also mindful of the impact of being the first All Black in history to do so.

‘‘I think people will naturally start normalising it so much more now because there’s not that looking around going, ‘who could it be? There must be one’. It’s now over. I honestly believe we will normalise this so quickly,’’ he told Stuff’s Zoe¨ George.

That’s a noble and hopeful message, and helping others to feel comfortable doing the same is plainly one of the prime reasons Johnstone told his story. Whether his dream of fast change will be realised is another matter – a quick trip through the history of similar public revelations shows it might be a longer road.

When Nashville Predators ice hockey player Luke Prokop came out in mid-2021, an NPR article wryly noted his revelation had doubled the number of currently playing, openly gay male athletes in the four major US sports (Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib had done so on Instagram the month before – gifting $US100,000 [NZ$154,000] to an LGBTQI+ youth suicide prevention charity as he did so).

Prokop and Nassib followed in the footsteps of Robbie Rogers (soccer) and Jason Collins (NBA) who’d come out while still playing in 2013. All of them, and others, stood on the shoulders of NFL player David Kopay, who was the first US male team athlete to make that public move in 1975. In 2004 – at the age of 62 and a full 29 years afterwards – he expressed his frustration that he still hadn’t ‘‘figured out how to make more change’’.

I found Kopay’s story in a fascinating 2004 thesis by Otago University philosophy doctorate candidate, Gerard LeBlanc.

He’s now a professor at the Universite de Moncton in Canada, but spent a number of years in New Zealand and at one point even coached our national junior ice hockey team. His doctorate study focused particularly on men’s rugby in New Zealand.

At the time LeBlanc was submitting his thesis, Kopay was one of only three gay athletes who’d voluntarily shared their sexual orientation publicly.

Kopay had hoped he might ‘‘crack a hole in what he termed the sports world’s ‘Conspiracy of Silence’’’, LeBlanc wrote.

Dr LeBlanc also had a question that hit me right in the guts: ‘‘Why, in this land of freedom, will the public not accept a gay male athlete doing anything in rugby but remaining silent? They call organised rugby a national pastime, the game for all New

The outpouring of love for Johnstone this week, including public messages of support from NZR, shows progress has been made, and will continue to be made.

Zealanders, but how can it be when one needs to be heterosexual or silent to play and be productive?’’

Some have noted that the same restrictions (whether self-imposed or otherwise) do not appear to exist – or not as strongly, anyway – in women’s team sport, where a number of players have been open about their sexuality.

That’s an interesting question and one which academics have attempted to answer, suggesting women’s participation in sport has always involved challenging gender norms; whereas for men, it’s the opposite – playing sport reaffirms the characteristics society ‘‘expects’’ of them.

Twenty years ago, David Kopay’s frustration came from a sense that organised sport, especially team sport, could be leading the way in fostering inclusion and diversity.

LeBlanc went further in his study, writing that ‘‘by addressing homophobia, sport institutions such as the NZRU may not only be improving the quality and popularity of rugby and other sports, but they could also be saving lives’’.

The outpouring of love for Johnstone this week, including public messages of support from New Zealand Rugby, shows progress has been made, and will continue to be made.

Meanwhile, Johnstone is not resting on any laurels – one of his first jobs after his interview with Hilary Barry was to spread the word at his old club, the Crusaders.

I share Johnstone’s hope that his decision really might shake something loose at all levels of mens’ rugby in New Zealand.