KEEGAN HIRST is proud and satisfied with the legacy he will leave as he announces his intentions to quit rugby league at the end of this season.
Though he has played more than 300 games in a distinguished 18-year career, including in the Super League, he accepts he won’t be recognised as one of the greats.
However, he is simply happy he will go down in history as the first British professional player in his sport to come out as gay.
Hirst, a prop for Batley Bulldogs, told SunSport: “I’m okay with being remembered as the ‘gay one’. I’m okay with that.
“I’m not a legend of rugby league on the field. I’m not Andy Farrell. I’m not Sean O’Loughlin. I’m not Jamie Peacock. And I’m okay with that.
“I’m not deluded into thinking I was some great on the field. I’ve had a decent career. I’ve played in all the leagues in Britain.
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“It’s still a good standard. It’s not thing to be ashamed of.
“But I’m pleased I was able to be a role model, to show people that you can be gay and play professional sport.
“When I came out, I then went on to play the best rugby in my career. Because I was, for want of a better phrase, being authentically me.
“If that’s my legacy. I’m absolutely fine with that.”
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3Unless Batley reach the Championship playoffs, Hirst only has three regular league games left before the boots are finally hung up.
Once he is done – and the ankles and shoulders throb constantly – Yorkshireman Hirst, 35, will spend more time with his family and boyfriend, while concentrating on his personal coaching business and public speaking.
Since announcing publicly he was gay in August 2015 – the father-of-two was then married to wife Sara – he says he can recall only two occasions when he has had homophobic abuse from the terraces.
Hirst, who played for Super League club Wakefield Trinity, was left upset by the first incident which happened many years at a Magic Weekend event in Blackpool.
The next time, the 6ft 5in star managed to laugh it off in a derby clash with Castleford by winking at the troll who shouted “p**f” and replying he was being a ‘flirt’.
Yet he is quick to stress that rugby league as a sport is a more compassionate place these days than when he first broke through aged 17 years old.
There are no openly-gay Premier League footballers and though Hirst has spoken about his situation to various players, past and present, he feels the landscape is probably not ready yet for such a breakthrough moment.
Hirst, a former doorman and builder, said: “It does kind of feel like people are waiting for the first footballer to come out.
“And I do think they feel a lot of pressure because of that.
“Who was the third person to walk on the moon? I don’t know. I know the first person was Neil Armstrong. So the first one matters.
“When I came out, I was thrust into this limelight. But I was a Championship rugby league player.
“How different is that going to be for a Premier League footballer? The spotlight is going to be even more intense.
“I hadn’t got it all figured out. I was still processing it, still coming to terms with it, which people do in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
“I didn’t have that privilege. I did it while being held up as some kind of role model and trailblazer.
“Now, I’m really grateful I have got that platform and notoriety but I think it’s a really scary thing to open yourself up to.
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“Football is so much more tribal than rugby. I think someone will do it. But for a lot of players, they probably think the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
“My advice is: Do it on your terms. Do it on your time frame. It’s your story, it’s your life. I’d say that my experience has been 99% positive.”
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