All is context. Sunday evening at the Olympic Stadium, a balmy spring evening. As the pre-match entertainment is getting underway for the NRL Rugby League Grand Final, no fewer than 80,000 people – gathered for what amounts to the climax of an annual national festival of hyper-masculinity – stirred restlessly. Among them, right on my left in the NRL box, Ian Roberts is clearly nervous.

Now, Roberts is two things. I have long held he is the toughest footballer to pull on a boot, at least that I have seen. His view is, he is also among the gayest men who ever lived, having never felt the slightest flicker of sexual interest in females, ever. It was the way he was born and when he declared his sexuality in 1995, while still playing, it was enormous news. To this day he remains the only male professional footballer in Australia to have done so.

So now, why nervous? Because a month ago, when Roberts had written to NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg suggesting the NRL itself come out in support of same-sex marriage, Greenberg replied instantly they would do exactly that, which was one thing. Subsequently, Greenberg also announced the pre-match entertainment would be the American rapper, Macklemore, and he would sing his anthem to marriage equality, Same Love.

Hence, Roberts' nervousness. The NRL's stance had caused enormous controversy. At the height of the same-sex marriage debate, here was a sporting organisation, taking political sides! All of Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi and Peter Dutton had been bitterly critical, receiving support in their criticism by large chunks of the commentariat, and swathes of talkback for starters.