Gareth Thomas “refused” to watch the Barbarians vs World XV match last month due to the “contradiction” of having symbols to celebrate LGBT+ pride whilst still allowing Israel Folau to play.
Thomas came out as gay in 2009 whilst playing for Cardiff Rugby, having achieved 100 caps for Wales between 1995 and 2007.
Folau, who started on the wing for the World XV, was sacked from his Rugby Australia central contract in 2019 for an Instagram post that stated ‘Hell awaits’ gay people.
He has regained prominence since he returned to Test rugby with Tonga, and though there were gestures made at Twickenham in favour of LGBT rights, Thomas declined to engage with the match Folau was selected in.
“I refused even to turn the television on,” Thomas said. “If you’re going to have a Pride Flag waving and have some inclusive teams there, but you’re still playing him, there’s a contradiction there: on one hand you want to celebrate diversity and inclusion in sport and on the other hand you’re picking him.
“I can guarantee one thing: Israel Folau is never going to change his opinion, because then he’d have to change his beliefs. I do respect his beliefs, and I wouldn’t discriminate against his them, but he needs then to respect the beliefs and lifestyles of other people.
“I don’t voice my thoughts around Israel Folau’s beliefs, whereas Israel Folau voices his about me. If I voiced my beliefs then I wouldn’t want to take to a rugby field and be booed, I’d either change them or conclude my beliefs were more important than a game of rugby.”
Since retiring Thomas has gone on to be a major advocate of gay rights, supporting Childline and NSPCC campaigns to give support to young people coming to terms with their sexuality and later fronting a BBC documentary about homophobia in football.
It is perhaps these campaigns more than any that have informed his view that fans, particularly children, will be negatively influenced by Folau being able to stay in the limelight without having retracted his 2019 statement.
“Every time he takes the field his words are being platformed, echoed, and magnified again,” he said. “People are reading them, and are given justification to feel the same way.
“When you become a sportsperson, whether you like it or not, you become a role model. That means that what you say is going to be listened to and adhered to by so many other kids who want to be a rugby player or be like you.
“Kids will feel justified in the school grounds to say to people ‘you can’t play rugby because you’re gay, Israel Folau says this is what should happen to gay people’.
“Even if he decides not to say it again leading into the World Cup, unless he retracts those words they are going to follow him. It’s going to be the one question that every reporter is going to want to ask him. It’s almost become a definition of who Israel Folau is now.
“You can’t question his ability to play rugby, but if you ask people in the LGBT Community who he is, they might not even like rugby, but they know him because of the news around it at the time, not because of his rugby-playing prowess.”
On a more positive note, the game saw Alun Wyn Jones captain his Barbarians side to a 48-42 victory in his penultimate game of professional rugby before leading them to a 68-33 win at Swansea RFC to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career.
Thomas and Jones’ international careers briefly crossed over as Jones made his Wales debut in 2006, and though he never imagined he would go on to be such a prominent figure in the national team, he has felt privileged to be involved in and watch the career of Wales’s most capped player.
“He was vocal when I played with him, but I never remember looking across and seeing somebody who was going to be a leader of Wales,” he added. “But that’s evolution of rugby, sometimes some people have to move on to allow other people to grow.
“When my era was over for Wales that was when he was elevated to being one of the senior players. So although I had the privilege of playing with Alun Wyn, it was more the privilege of watching him grow from the sidelines that was an amazing thing.
“To see him captain Wales and the Lions, and the way he led both of them, shows a determination not only to do what he does week in, week out on the field but also on the training field. To have done what he has done in the position he plays is testament to how much of a professional he is.”
Jones’ retirement came alongside Justin Tipuric’s, and with Rhys Webb and Cory Hill stepping back from international rugby due to their new club commitments, plus Rhys Carre being dropped from the squad for ‘failing to meet individual targets’, Wales’ training squad is already five players light.
Thomas puts the retirements down simply to slightly unfortunate timing, noting that Wales may not have had some of the success they have in the last three years – such as the 2021 Six Nations victory – if the trio had been forced out the door sooner.
He hopes the players will be remembered for their collective contribution to the national team and not questions around the circumstances of their retirement.
“It’s tough times for the Welsh national team,” he said. “It’s one of those moments that most countries at some point go through; kind of an evolution, a clear out of the old guard.
“What makes this one difficult is that most teams try to pre-empt this two or three years prior to a World Cup. For this to be happening on the eve of a World Cup is not ideal.
“But then an evolution is never ideal. You wouldn’t have wanted to drop Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric or Rhys Webb a couple of years ago because they have been pivotal since.
“And it’s nobody else’s decision as to when you retire. When I retired, it was because I couldn’t do justice to what the coach expected of me, and I think that must be the case now for these boys.
“There may be some theories as to why they retired so close to the World Cup, but I hope people look at those three and remember what they did on the field rather than why they retired at a certain time. They deserve huge respect for what they’ve given on the field.”
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