Paris (AFP)

A rainbow line on the ground to "move the lines": the National Rugby League (LNR) reaffirms its desire to fight against homophobia through a symbolic initiative in a sport where the evolution of mentalities is progressing slowly .

"I hope that in ten years it will no longer be a taboo subject in sport and that people will say: so what?", Said in 2009 the former Welsh international Gareth Thomas, the first famous player to come out. out.

The Australian Dan Palmer imitated him in October but the word takes time to be released in a sporting discipline conveying clichés about virility.

A study commissioned by the LNR in 2020 and conducted by the firm Oliver Wyman with approximately 385 players and members of the staff of professional clubs showed that nearly 75% of them believe that it is difficult to talk about homosexuality in the middle.

While the world day against homophobia and transphobia is celebrated on Monday, and to show "the way to go concerning the taboo of homosexuality", the NRL has chosen to draw a rainbow line of 75 meters long on the field during the Pro D2 Montauban - Grenoble match this Friday (6.30 p.m.) and two Top 14 matches on Saturday, Bordeaux-Bègles - Castres (2.45 p.m.) and Clermont - Toulon (9.05 p.m.).

This symbolic action will be followed by the setting up of around thirty awareness workshops in clubs in September, hosted by Têtu, the magazine dedicated to LGBT news.

In football, the L1 and L2 clubs were invited to flock their jerseys this weekend with numbers in the colors of the rainbow.

The LNR launched its plan to fight homophobia last year.

But if "things move forward, there is still a lot of work to do," said Marcus Hudson, vice-president of the Gaillards Paris Rugby club.

Created in 2003, the Parisian association "brings together in the same team players without distinction of gender, age, sexual orientation of origin or sporting level".

Hudson, 36, of American origin, tells AFP that he started rugby when he arrived in France in 2009 in a club in the Center-Val de Loire region.

"I don't know of any other sport so unifying," he said.

But at the time, he did not yet assume his sexuality.

When he revealed his homosexuality to his teammates, Hudson saw "different treatment of (his) person before and after".

"The friends no longer kissed me, no longer changed in the locker room and no longer dared to take a shower," explains the association manager, who however kept in contact with a few players from his first club.

- April Fool's Day with Serin -

By settling in Paris, Marcus Hudson starts running but he misses rugby.

"With the Guys, it immediately hooked. It was no headache," he said.

"Returning to a traditional club would have been more difficult. The feeling would not have been the same. You can do it but you have to be ready to have rejections," he continues.

Stigma can also come from adversaries.

The Gaillards team is affiliated to the France Folklo Rugby Association (AFFR), which "advocates conviviality and fair play in matches" where "the + champion + is totally excluded".

But "all teams are not necessarily LGBT friendly," said Hudson, who remembers a heated match.

"During the rucks, they called us dirty queers."

However, "things are moving in the right direction," notes the vice-president of Les Gaillards.

He cites as an example the last April Fool's Day Gaillards, who had made believe that the international scrum-half Baptiste Serin would join their team on social networks.

"He replied: + See you tonight. The fact that he participates, it shows that it becomes a non-subject. The most important is the game", concludes Marcus Hudson.

© 2021 AFP