Brendan Fevola throws his support behind Mitch Brown as AFL told to apologise
The AFL has been told to apologise to Mitch Brown, while Brendan Fevola hopes the footy player’s brave stance encourages others.
Brendan Fevola has saluted Mitch Brown for revealing his sexuality and hopes the move from the former Eagle encourages others to do the same.
A week after Izak Rankine was banned for using a homophobic slur, bringing homophobia in footy back into the spotlight, Brown made the remarkable decision to come out as bisexual in a chat with The Daily Aus.
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In doing so, Brown became the first past or present AFL player to ever admit they were anything but heterosexual.
Brown made 94 appearances in defence for West Coast from 2007 to 2016 and held tightly to his sexuality throughout his career.
He retold a devastating story that he once overheard teammates saying they would rather “be in a cage full of lions than have a shower next to a gay man”.
Former Carlton star Fevola said he would’ve had no issue showering with a gay teammate during his career, before talking about the “masculinity” that still exists in AFL dressing rooms.
The 44-year-old then took the conversation in a slightly different direction, talking about the levels of attraction all humans experience.
“(Brown is) comfortable with himself and who he is now to come out and speak on behalf of himself and I suppose other gay players that are in the AFL, because odds are there are,” Fevola said on his radio show, The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick.
“And they hide behind it and god knows what they’d be thinking when you’re in the sheds in the footy rooms and getting changed because it’s very masculine in a footy room.
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“I probably would have played with some players that were gay – and I don’t know because no one else has ever come out – but you’d have no problem with it. Who cares?
“You get attracted to people from the same-sex or a different sex, but it doesn’t mean you want to be with everyone.
“(Straight players are said to be) all worried about ‘oh if he’s in the shower with me he’s going to want to you-know-what’. That’s not what he’ll be thinking.
“There’s no issue with someone being gay and being in the same shower block as you because you’re just not attracted to everyone.
“I’d be like ‘bro, I’m not attracted to you anyway, so don’t worry about it’.
“I just think that he has started hopefully an effect that encourages other people. He should be able to express himself. It is normal.
“Hopefully, this encourages other players to say ‘hey if Mitch can do it (so can I), because imagine playing with that on your head and shoulders.”
It’s patently obvious, looking at society as a whole, that there have been a number of gay players across the history of the AFL.
But unlike many other sports, no player had felt comfortable enough to admit their sexuality during or even after their careers until Brown’s courageous stance.
Fevola, who is a forwards coach with Richmond’s AFLW side, said people only needed to look at the women’s competition to see what is possible.
“I don’t want to use the word trailblazer, but hopefully (Brown’s) set a precedent now,” Fevola continue.
“You look at the AFLW, very different, and (their sexuality is) all accepted because they’re progressive.
“Now it’s time the AFL and Andrew Dillon and everyone, this needs to be more progressive for players in the AFL and a safe place.
“You want it to be a safe place.”
Brown’s move has drawn a wide range of commentary from across Australia, including in the academic world.
Dr Erik Denison, who works in the Faculty of Arts at Melbourne’s Monash University, believes the AFL owes Brown an apology for failing to provide a safe space during his decade-long career.
“Mitch Brown has shared some very sad and troubling stories about the deeply rooted homophobic culture in the AFL as well as the unhealthy masculine culture,” Denison said in a statement.
“It’s great that AFL leaders, including the CEO, are publicly supporting and congratulating him for coming out.
“However, I would also expect them to apologise to Mitch for not creating a safe environment for him to play his sport and for failing to fulfil public commitments made by the AFL to change the homophobic culture.”
Back in 2014, the AFL joined a number of other Australian codes in reaffirming a commitment to promote an inclusive environment, regardless of anyone’s sexuality.
Former chief executive Andrew Demetriou said at the time the AFL “embraces inclusion and diversity within our game” and the competition “does not tolerate discrimination in any form”.
Denison clearly believes the league has failed in that intention and has an opportunity now, more than a decade later, to finally make good on that pledge.
“The AFL signed a commitment in 2014 to become a world leader in efforts to stop the pervasive homophobic language used at all levels of the game,” Denison added.
“This is an opportunity for the AFL to work with Mitch and other LGBTQ+ people in the AFL community to fulfil this commitment and drive long-overdue change to culture and behaviour at all levels of the game.”
Fevola, who kicked 623 goals in 204 games with the Blues and Lions, had a number of off-field issues during his career, leading to his abrupt departure from both clubs.
The man known as “Fev” had enormous sympathy for what Brown must have endured during his footy career.
“Imagine him playing footy for 10 years with this on his shoulders and mentally,” he said.
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“The fact that he could actually get out there and perform, knowing the pressure that he was under.
“There would be demons in his head because he just wants to be himself and he couldn’t be himself in his whole footy career.
“Very sad.”
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