Openly gay cricketers

[GraemeSmith]

Are there any openly gay cricketers playing today? Or any openly gay retired cricketers for that matter?

[BoyBrumby]

Alan Hansford who played a few games for Sussex is the only one I know of.

[Athlai]

Took until the 2nd reply. Surprised it got that far tbh.

[zaremba]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Alan Hansford who played a few games for Sussex is the only one I know of.

Yeah he's the only one so far as I know. And he only came out after he finished playing.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Athlai

Took until the 2nd reply. Surprised it got that far tbh.

Eh? Has a post been deleted or am I missing something?

[GingerFurball]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Eh? Has a post been deleted or am I missing something?

Yep, SaeedAnwar posting drivel.

[fredfertang]

Presumably its not permissable to post unconfirmed reports even if they come from an unimpeachable source within a county dressing room?

[GingerFurball]

Originally Posted by fredfertang

Presumably its not permissable to post unconfirmed reports even if they come from an unimpeachable source within a county dressing room?

If it's an unconfirmed report then the player isn't openly gay is he?

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by GingerFurball

If it's an unconfirmed report then the player isn't openly gay is he?

Perhaps I worded my post clumsily - the player concerned, as I understand it, is known to be gay throughout the game, well his own dressing room at least so to that extent is openly so - but the press either don't know, don't care, or, hopefully, just don't think its important enough to mention - though I doubt the latter tbh

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by fredfertang

Perhaps I worded my post clumsily - the player concerned, as I understand it, is known to be gay throughout the game, well his own dressing room at least so to that extent is openly so - but the press either don't know, don't care, or, hopefully, just don't think its important enough to mention - though I doubt the latter tbh

Dunno. It was an open secret in rugby circles that Gareth Thomas was on the other bus for a good two or three years before he officially outed himself. I saw it discussed openly on another forum after he and his wife separated. Mainstream meedja must've known as anyone with Google and 15 minutes to spare could've found reference to it.

Cricket's a fairly small world and a lot of the journos are ex pros, so would guess they've all heard the rumours at least. Just decided it's no-one's business which, after all, is true.

[fredfertang]

It had escaped me about Thomas I have to admit but hopefully you may be right - I've scarcely looked at anything from the gutter press since one of the sunday tabloids made a huge story of Brian Hardie (yes the unremarkable Essex opener from that place north of Hadrians Wall) having an affair - had it been an international player I suppose its the price of fame but to do that to someone who was, essentially, an ordinary working man, I thought was bang out of order

[zaremba]

BTW I presume the OP was referring to openly gay male cricketers rather than females. I'd imagine there are many in the latter category.

[four_or_six]

Originally Posted by zaremba

BTW I presume the OP was referring to openly gay male cricketers rather than females. I'd imagine there are many in the latter category.

How come?

[fredfertang]

Its a bloke thing

[zaremba]

Originally Posted by four_or_six

How come?

Partly I reckon - and here I am guilty of a whopping great assumption - that cricket is a sport that is less likely to attract gay men than many sports, and more likely to attract gay women. I could give my reasons for so thinking, but they basically amount to little more than guesswork by me.

Perhaps the more important factor is that there seems to be much less of a taboo about gay women in sport than gay men, so more women than men feel happy to be "out".