Hunky rugby star’s clapback to gay slur and nail-polish jibes is fair dinkum
Australia’s Reece Walsh is being praised for his reaction to a fan’s homophobic insult during the series-clinching Test win over England. The post Hunky rugby star’s clapback to gay slur and nail-polish jibes is fair dinkum appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Reece Walsh put in a man-of-the-match performance last month as the Brisbane Broncos won a thrilling NRL Grand Final in Sydney to seal the club’s first title in 19 years.
Now the fullback has led Australia to victory in their international Test series against England, tackling not just opposition players with success but also homophobic comments from fans.
Walsh is the hottest property in rugby league and is being tipped for a code switch to rugby union, where the financial rewards for players are greater.
The 23-year-old Gold Coast native’s good looks and confidence have already won him a legion of admirers. He often sports painted nails, which he attributes to the artistic talents of his four-year-old daughter, Leila.
However, it’s his reaction to a gay slur shouted from the stands during the Kangaroos’ 14-4 triumph in the second Test in Liverpool that is now attracting attention.
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A capacity crowd of more than 50,000 supporters at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium saw the tourists take a 10-point advantage in the second half. Defending that lead, Walsh chose to take out England’s Dom Young via a deliberate mid-air collision.
That earned him a yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin bin as the clock ticked down, but unlike in NRL matches — where punished players return to the locker room to serve their time — the officials directed Walsh to sit on the sideline, close to the England fans.
Two journalists had been invited to sit in the Australia dugout for the match, and both reported the taunts they heard from the crowd.
“Some in the crowd were aggressive and antagonistic, particularly towards Reece Walsh,” wrote Dean Ritchie in The Australian.
He described the hostility as “horrendous… vile insults no player should have to endure.”
Speaking on “The Journos: Ashes Edition” podcast, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Chammas went into more detail about how Walsh was treated.
“The crowd were giving it to him. I’d say it was light hearted but there were a few guys who took it a step too far. Security had to get involved.
“There was a homophobic slur, he was called a b*stard, and they started bagging him around his nails and his nail polish.”
Chammas said he feared how Walsh might react but was relieved by what happened next.
“To his credit, he smiled and turned around, and he said to one of the guys who dished out the homophobic slur – “are you still a virgin?”
“So yeah, he handled it pretty well!”
@triplem_nrl We don’t condone what some fans said to Reece Walsh but we love the response from the Kangaroos fullback! Catch The Journos Ashes Special on Triple M NRL wherever you get your podcasts from! #nrl #reecewalsh #ashes #rugbyleague #fyp ♬ original sound – Triple M NRL
Being a young dad keeps Reece Walsh grounded
Chammas interviewed Walsh after the game and asked him about the treatment he got from the fans.
“Some of the things that they were saying were pretty crazy,” he replied.
“But I’m one of those guys, if you’re going to give it, you’re going to receive it.”
Walsh is no stranger to controversy. Before he turned 20, he was fined and banned by the Broncos having been arrested by police for possession of a powerful drug.
He’s been involved in physical and verbal altercations both on and off the field, and has got himself into trouble on social media on more than one occasion this year.
The most recent incident in September revolved around a video posted on Snapchat in which he could be seen drinking water from a toilet bowl.
That led to the Broncos issuing a statement to explain that the toilet had been unused at the time the video was taken, having just been newly installed. “The video represents a poor attempt at humour posted privately by Walsh,” the club said.
Yet he has also been held up as a great role model for young fathers. Having had a tough upbringing in Queensland (he has been open about his mother’s struggle with drug addiction), he became a dad at the age of just 18 when his then-girlfriend Freda gave birth to Leila.
The couple later separated and are now raising their child together. Walsh often shares photos with Leila on his Instagram account and she is regularly seen at Broncos games, sometimes joining her dad on the pitch at the final whistle.
Her painting of his nails is a sweet father-daughter moment, but as Outsports increasingly sees with male pro athletes who have similarly colorful nails, it tends to make them an even greater target for homophobia and barbs about their perceived sexuality.
As the Kangaroos star says, it’s a “pretty crazy” situation, but his clapback to the immature fan who shouted the gay slur shows that you don’t have to be dragged down to their level.
Reece Walsh might have wanted to flip the guy the bird. Maybe he thought about shouting a slur back. But instead, simply asking the homophobe if he was still a virgin seems like fair play to us.
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The post Hunky rugby star’s clapback to gay slur and nail-polish jibes is fair dinkum appeared first on Outsports.
