SYDNEY, June 9 (Reuters) - Former Fiji international rugby league prop Kane Evans has become only the second man to have played in the National Rugby League (NRL) to publicly come out as gay, three decades after the first.
The 34-year-old played for eight seasons with the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta Eels and New Zealand Warriors in the NRL before moving to England for one season in Super League with Hull FC in 2023.
Evans told Channel Nine in an emotional TV interview on Monday that he had considered suicide and struggled with alcohol and substance addiction as he came to terms with his sexuality.
"I had three goals in life — to play NRL, to buy my parents a house and then I wanted to top myself," said Evans, who said he was now sober.
"Because I was living in denial. From a young age, I knew that I'm gay but I went down every other avenue to build up these walls to be someone to escape who I am.
"I've carried that around my whole life but I'm here today to show people you don't have to live like that. Even now I feel more free just by saying it out loud. I've brought it to light."
Ian Roberts, another prop renowned for his toughness who caused a sensation when he came out in the mid 1990s while still playing in the NRL, said he was proud of Evans.
"This is his moment. I'm very happy for him," Roberts, now 60 and a successful actor, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I don't want to talk about me, this is his moment. I'm very happy that he has found some peace, or that he's starting to."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
