Eddie Butler runs a rule over the recent tribulations in the career of Welsh legend Gareth Thomas after he admitted that he is gay in The Observer.
"Since Gareth "Alfie" Thomas is the first international rugby union player to come out and say that he is gay, there is no protocol either to break or to follow. There was a familiar pattern: the years of torment and the deception, with particular regard to his wife, Jemma, and now the relief.
"But no system exists, based on past experience, to help him through his private struggle and his public sporting career. That might imply that rugby, a bit like the military, refuses to acknowledge homosexuality in its ranks. We don't offer help because there is no problem to solve.
"Or it suggests that for all its promotion of itself as the territory of the alpha male, rugby is surprisingly grown up in its inclusiveness. Nigel Owens, the top referee, is gay. Big deal. Alfie is gay. So what?"
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