I heard Steven Davies on Radio 5 Live earlier today, he was talking about the reaction to his decision to reveal he was gay from fellow cricketers and members of the public.
Davies was impressive. He spoke well and came across as an intelligent, decent chap who means no ill to anyone.
It was good to hear that he got a very positive reaction from his fellow members within the England squad. In truth that came as no major surprise to me, as England’s current squad seem like a fairly level headed group of guys who wouldn’t hold such prehistoric prejudices.
It was also good to hear that Andy Flower handled it in a decent and professional manner, again that comes as no great surprise. Although, apparently out of Flower and Strauss, one of them came up with the idea that Davies should stand up and announce it to the squad and backroom staff. Not surprisingly, Davies wasn’t too keen on that idea.
Davies paid tribute to rugby player Gareth Thomas for recently coming out, claiming it helped him decide to reveal his own secret. Where this differs for me, is unlike Thomas and NBA basketball player John Amaechi, Davies has done it relatively early on in his career.
Thomas is nearing the end of his career, while Amaechi had retired before he made his announcement. This just further confirms what a real brave decision it was from Davies.
For a horrible moment I did wonder where the interview was heading when Gabby Logan asked Davies for his opinion about what athletes put inside their bodies, I then realised she was referring to Kolo Toure’s failed drugs test, as opposed to a post watershed joke.
On a serious note though, I did wonder afterwards how this could affect Davies’ on future tours. What I mean by this is, that the counties and England quite often go on overseas tours to strict religious countries in the middle east.
I maybe being a bit naive here, but isn’t it illegal to be gay in some of these countries? I’m sure Qatar is, as it was flagged up after the awarding of the football world cup to them.
Pakistan now play a lot of their cricket in this region, with this now being public knowledge about Davies, it could be that he and England may well encounter some problems in future.