Rugby On SBS tonight (July 22)
For those interested, SBS will screen a rugby (union) doco tonight @7.30pm titled "Walk Like A Man" about..well, you can read below.
A brief cut out of a review below taken from SBS - Special Broadcasting Service
A documentary featuring players from two of the world’s best gay rugby teams; sentimental favourites, San Francisco Fog and feisty upstarts, Sydney Convicts, as they prepare to compete for the 2006 Bingham Cup, in New York City.
Directed and produced by New York based duo Patricia Zagarella and Jim Morgison, Walk Like a Man challenges traditional perceptions of masculinity and homosexuality, showing gay men and gay athletes to be as equally passionate, skilled and committed to their sport, as their heterosexual counterparts. Andrew ‘Fuzz’ Purchas, founder and president of the Sydney Convicts says “I didn’t really understand what gay ruby as all about, until I saw the Bingham Cup. I saw that a whole lot of guys who never had a chance to play rugby before got the chance to play, and it was a great feeling.”
Narrated by Ian Roberts, who is best known for being the first footballer in Australia to publicly ‘come out’ as a gay man, and with an appearance from former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons, Walk Like a Man shares many personal stories from players on both teams.
Leonardo ‘Buck’ Gonzales, a member of the San Francisco Fog joined the team after seeing an ad in his local paper. Prior to joining the Fog, Buck went to university in Oregon on a football scholarship, though he never ‘came out’ during this time because he felt “the sports world was just so homophobic. It’s just not acceptable.” Angus ‘Gus’ Donald, from the Sydney Convicts shares a similar story about why he never pursued his love of rugby sooner, “When you’re going into those hyper-masculine arenas, you don’t’ want to get caught out, you don’t want to be found out.”
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