Ireland rugby

IrishRugby.ie caught up with Graeme McInerney, a former player and now a proud volunteer and coach with St. Mary's College RFC. In his own words, Graeme took ...

I do believe that we need to be careful about language and the words we use. A few of the players had also picked up on it but it was said in the heat of the moment, and I accepted his apology. One time we were in the middle of a huddle and one of the coaches was looking to get the team all fired up. Coming out is part of a journey for some people, for others it isn’t. People shouldn’t feel the need to come out. There will be times when people will need to clarify or correct those around them but we all have to do that in life across many matters regardless of our sexuality. My teammate didn’t really care that his friend was gay – he just wanted to help him figure it out with his parents. I just wanted to focus in that moment on the match, but we spoke about it afterwards and he apologised. Because we were doing well and I had that break from seriously intense rugby, I decided it was where I wanted to be. Rugby actually helped in that it helped to toughen me up and made me more resilient. I couldn’t pick up a rugby ball for 10 months but as I started to return to fitness, I joined the club’s J2 team. I realised I was gay around the turn of the millennium. So, my name is Graeme McInerney. I’m from Dublin. I come from a big rugby family – I played all my life and started with mini rugby in St. Mary’s College RFC and then played in Templeogue College. I did my Leaving Cert in 2003 and played SCT with the school.