Tag: captain

Mathieu Bastareaud was initially suspended for calling an opposing player a "f*cking f*ggot." A rugby team in France has dropped a player for using an anti-gay slur. Mathieu Bastareaud, a center with the French Rugby Club (RC) Toulon, was initally given a three week suspension by the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) after he called Italian forward Sebastian Negri a “fucking faggot” during Toulon’s match against Benetton Treviso last weekend weekend. Prior to EPCR’s disciplinary hearing, Toulon came to Bastareaud’s defense. In...

Former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas has opened up about struggling to accept his own sexuality. Mr Thomas hit headlines in 2009 when he became the UK’s first openly gay rugby player. Thomas, who has more than 100 caps for his country, says he battled against being gay to the point he considered taking his own life. Speaking to the Attitude Heroes podcast he said: “Life was shit. It was really really bad. “But I didn’t want to not hear my mum and...

Peter Heidgerd was court-martialed in 1989 and felony conviction hurt employment opportunities President Barack Obama has pardoned a Georgia man who spent year in prison for being gay. Peter Heidgerd, now 56, has spent nearly three decades with a felony conviction on his record because he had a gay relationship with a fellow soldier in the US Army. Heidgerd was convicted in 1989 of conduct unbecoming an officer while at Fort Gordon near Augusta. He spent a year behind bars in the...