As a young child, like many in this country, I grew up wanting to play Australian rules. But when I started to realise I was gay, I withdrew into myself, stopped playing sport, and generally just lost myself in this person I thought I had to be.

As an adult, however, I learnt what it really meant to be a homosexual man. And, surprisingly enough, it was pretty similar to being a normal man.

So I decided to go back to football – changed my life, moved interstate, dropped a massive amount of weight, started working on my skills (albeit 15 years behind) and began playing local footy. In doing so, I decided not to parade my sexuality around – for several reasons.

One was that the first thing I learnt about footy was that no individual is bigger than the team. I knew that some people might not like the idea of playing with a gay bloke, and I didn’t want to upset the team atmosphere, especially when I was just trying to learn the ropes.

Not that I was secretive. I never lied about it. One of the blokes at my club asked me and I told him. I also told a couple when the topic came up. In each case, I met with positive reactions.