An important day for sport
Steven Davies' decision to reveal he is gay has received huge support from within and outside cricket
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Steven Davies' decision to reveal he is gay has received huge support from within and outside cricket. He joins a select list of professional sportsman to go public with their sexuality and, in the Guardian, David Hopps says that it shows how British sport has matured in recent years.
Davies has been set upon announcing that he is gay for some months. All that has been at issue has been when and how. Midway through the Ashes series was universally agreed not to be a very good idea. But while he has agonised about the detail, the chilled-out support of the England dressing room has helped to stiffen his resolve.
This is not just the England squad that won the Ashes in Australia, this is the England squad that learned officially before the Ashes tour of a gay man in its midst, shrugged, dealt with it, offered its backing and got on with trying to win cricket matches. If Davies is now automatically an icon for young gay men who wish to play any kind of team sport while being open about their sexuality, never mind achieve at the highest level, then the England cricket team deserves to be seen as a model for a team that dealt with admirable sang-froid with the recognition that it had a gay man in its midst.
Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo