{"id":247522,"date":"2022-10-30T06:38:23","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T07:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247522"},"modified":"2022-10-30T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T10:57:07","slug":"gay-league-icon-rips-manly-pride-rebels-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247522","title":{"rendered":"Gay league icon rips Manly pride rebel's 'fantasy'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gay rugby league icon Ian Roberts<\/a> has described Josh Aloiai<\/a> as "ignorant" and "hypocritical" after the Manly Seven ringleader explained his viewpoint<\/a> of the pride jersey controversy<\/a><\/p>\n

Aloi\ufeffai stunningly broke his silence on Tuesday, telling 9News' Emma Lawrence he would again refuse to wear a pride jersey if the Sea Eagles<\/a> chose to reboot the initiative.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old also revealed that his gay sister "totally understood" his stance and was bemused at the media's enormous interest in the story.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Simon O'Donnell's Melbourne Cup form guide and tips\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> Everything you need to know about the 2022 Melbourne Cup\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> DCE's passionate message after Kangaroos victory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Roberts said Aloiai's reason for rejecting the club's pride jumper wasn't "deep enough".<\/p>\n

The former rugby league hardman also questioned Aloiai's admission that his gay sister was comfortable with his decision to not wear the pride jumper.<\/p>\n

Roberts came out as gay in 1995, and to this day is the only professional male rugby league player in the world to have done so.<\/p>\n

"It does my head in listening to Josh talking about his sister, [it doesn't] sit well with me," Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"If she's been told, 'We love you but, you know, you can't bring your lifestyle home' or, 'You can't be who you are', that's dismissing her and who she really is.<\/p>\n

"I had a situation with my younger sister who I always thought was totally accepting of my sexuality. Just before the marriage equality vote, my sister and I and my mum were having a chat, and my sister said she was going to vote against it. That was a real smack in the face for me. In reference to Josh, he's living in a fantasy world."<\/p>\n

Roberts is also maddened<\/a> by Aloiai's strict stance that he won't wear the pride jumper or play in a pride round in 2023 or beyond.<\/p>\n

"Why isn't he going to wear the jumper? I still don't think I've heard a deep enough reason for him to say that," Roberts said.<\/p>\n

"He sounds very ignorant. He says, 'We're accepting of all people. But I draw the line at wearing a rainbow'. He's saying he is loving and Christian, but the acceptance isn't for everyone. It's contradictory and it's hypocritical."<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Aloiai also revealed that his family had received death threats.<\/p>\n

"I suppose the thing that upset me most about it initially was that he and the other boys had death threats," Roberts said.<\/p>\n

"I really do hope that the club or the NRL<\/a> chases this up because it's something that's just totally unacceptable.<\/p>\n

"I would say it's not unfamiliar for anyone in the queer community, particularly my age. I mean, you only go back to the '80s and '90s and gay people were being thrown off cliffs. So we've kind of lived with that whole violence and death thing … and because he is getting death threats that is the reason we need a pride round, for inclusion and acceptance."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gay rugby league icon Ian Roberts has described Josh Aloiai as "ignorant" and "hypocritical" after the Manly Seven ringleader explained his viewpoint of the pride […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247524,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247522\/revisions\/247524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}