Nigel Owens has revisited the Israel Folau homophobia scandal to spell out to the fallen Australia star the effect such social media posts from people in positions of influence have on kids \u201cstruggling with their identity\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n
Six years ago, three-code ace Folau posted on Instagram that \u201chell awaits\u201d homosexuals, comments that led Rugby Australia<\/a> to terminate his contract. The 36-year-old is currently playing in Japan.<\/p>\n Nigel Owens on Israel Folau\u2019s comments<\/p>\n Legendary ref Owens<\/a> came out as gay in 2007, having previously attempted to take his own life. Speaking to Dan Biggar in a deeply personal episode of the A Load of BS on Sport podcast, Owens has a message for Folau<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you go back to what Israel Folau posted, the homophobic comments he posted a few years ago,\u201d he begins.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs to realise that for somebody in a position of influence like him, when he posts those things, when a young kid is struggling with their identity, and they see somebody who is at the top of his game, who\u2019s known throughout the rugby world, saying that you\u2019ll go to hell if you\u2019re gay, imagine the effect that has on that young person.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the effect it had on me at the time, comments like that from other people. It drove me to, well, within 20 minutes of not being here today.\u201d<\/p>\n Owens, 53, says the pressure of refereeing a Rugby World Cup final, as he did in 2015, is \u201cnothing compared to the challenge of accepting who I truly was\u201d.<\/p>\n In a raw and incredibly candid account of his early years, he opens up to Biggar on his bulimia, his drinking, becoming hooked on steroids and his attempted suicide.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in the 70s things were very different to what they are now,\u201d he explains to the former Wales captain. \u201cI had a very old-fashioned upbringing in a council estate. I went to Sunday school, went to chapel.<\/p>\n \u201cI told my mum that when I got older I\u2019d get a girlfriend, then get married, then have children and become a parent, grandparent.<\/p>\n \u201cAt 19 years of age, I had a girlfriend but, on occasions, I would find myself attracted to men. This was something totally alien, something I knew nothing about, something I\u2019d never experienced before, something I hadn\u2019t been told that could happen.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I would hear this language around me every day about people in the LGBTQ+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel Folau receives blunt response from Rugby Australia boss on wish to face British and Irish Lions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Israel Folau slams Rugby Australia after being ruled ineligible for British & Irish Lions clash<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Steriod abuse<\/p>\n Owens continues: \u201cIf you think about it now, even today, but even more so back then, when you hear the words \u2018faggot\u2019, \u2018homo\u2019, \u2018poof\u2019, \u2018gay\u2019, they\u2019re always used to describe something somebody doesn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n \u201cKids will say, without meaning to be nasty or even thinking what they\u2019re saying, \u2018Oh, I hate school, it\u2019s so gay\u2019. Or, I don\u2019t know, \u2019Did you see Wales play against England on the weekend? They were bloody hopeless they played like a bunch of poofs\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never hear somebody say, \u2018Did you see Wales play rugby on the weekend? They were brilliant. They played like a bunch of poofs\u2019. Or, \u2018Oh, I love school. It\u2019s so gay\u2019. It\u2019s always used in a negative or nasty way.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when I\u2019m hearing this language growing up at 19 years of age, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018my God, there\u2019s no way I can be gay because nobody\u2019s going to like me\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Between the ages of 19 and 26 Owens says he really struggled, became very depressed, spent a lot of time on his own.<\/p>\n \u201cI started drinking a lot. I used to comfort eat a lot. I put a lot of weight on. I then became bulimic,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI started suffering from the eating disorder bulimia, where pretty much everything I would eat I would make myself sick afterwards.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost a lot of that weight. I was about 16, 17 stones, I went down to 10, very thin, very pale. Then I went to the gym because I wanted to have a body that I felt confident in.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I started using steroids. I got hooked on steroids. So when I was 25 years of age I was in a pretty bad place. I was bulimic, I was hooked on steroids, I was very very depressed \u2013 mental health issues \u2013 and I was having suicidal thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n