Former Brisbane Lions player Leigh Ryswyk has become the first past or present male AFL player to come out as gay.
He follows in the footsteps of ex-West Coast defender Mitch Brown, who came out as bisexual last year.
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Ryswyk played one game for the Lions in 2005, his second season after being selected with pick 67 in the rookie draft after impressing at Southport.
He recorded four disposals in a win over Fremantle while wearing the recently-retired Shaun Hart’s number 32.
Ryswyk then suffered a quad injury and failed to regain his place in the senior side before being delisted at the end of the season.
Former Lions player turned SANFL champion Leigh Ryswyk has come out as gay.Source: FOX SPORTS
However moving to South Australia gave Ryswyk the chance to enjoy a stellar career in the SANFL, playing 226 games for North Adelaide along with representing SA in four second-tier state games.
His final game came in the 2018 reserves grand final, having barely gotten through training to earn the opportunity after a late-season rib injury. It resulted in his first career premiership.
Ryswyk has since been inducted into the AFL Queensland Football Hall of Fame.
On Wednesday, Ryswyk came out on the GayFL show on radio station JOY 94.9, explaining he has been out to close friends for five years.
“There will be people though, if they do listen to this, it will be the first time they know about this; I’m a very private person, so it’s not all over my social media, and things like that, and that’s fine,” he explained.
“It can be a bit of a shock to some people, they might not know what, but that’s life right? In the end, the people who are nearest and closest to me know, and that’s what’s most important.”
North Adelaide’s Leigh Ryswyk celebrates kicking a goal in 2017. Picture: Tom HuntleySource: News Corp Australia
Ryswyk revealed his parents had been incredibly supportive when he revealed the news to them.
“When you come our to your family it’s always a massive experience, there’s a lot of things going on in your head… it took me a little while where I was comfortable enough to do this, probably a three-year period to be honest, so there was a lot of the mental side of things going through at the same time,” he said.
“I had the opportunity to sit down with mum and talk to her about it, and let her know, which was massive. She obviously was crying, I was crying, and she goes ‘I still love you’, so for me, that was a wow moment.
“Then opening up to your dad… now that experience was one of the biggest things for me, but his reaction was something that blew me away, to be honest. I really didn’t know what to expect, but he was like, ‘I love you, it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re happy I’m happy for you’, that blew me away to be honest.”
He believes the first man to come out while active in the AFL will receive massive support.
“I think the AFL, and the community, will wrap their arms around that player,” Ryswyk said.
“I think the community itself, obviously the queer community, the fan base, I think in the whole they will celebrate that when the time comes.”