![\"Ian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/e4677bb5d6506aa0bc53f2d8993d369dd1245638.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAsked if they were senior players, Quayle replied: \u201cOh, very much so.\u201d<\/p>\n
The respected administrator added that no thought was given to leaving Roberts out of the Kangaroos squad to placate the trio.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ian Roberts in action for the Kangaroos at Wembley in 1994.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ended very quickly because my chairman at the time, Ken Arthurson, was the chairman of the International Rugby League as well,\u201d Quayle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Ken and said, \u2018Look, we\u2019ve got a couple of players here that, if selected, don\u2019t want to tour with Ian Roberts.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Ken Arthurson was absolutely shocked because he was a long-term administrator, he\u2019d never heard \u2013 like any of us \u2013 something like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Ken\u2019s comment to me, which I remember so clearly, was, \u2018Well that\u2019s good mate, just tell them they won\u2019t be selected. That\u2019s an easy decision.\u2019 And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to identify the three players who did not want to tour with Roberts, Quayle said: \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s really in my interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts, who sits on the Venues NSW board alongside Quayle, has long been aware that some of his former teammates held such views. The 60-year-old felt that most adopted a more progressive outlook after getting to know him \u2013 \u201cWe all became good friends,\u201d Roberts said \u2013 but still found watching Quayle\u2019s clip triggering.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t got all the way through it \u2026 I can\u2019t watch it,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
He agreed to participate in the documentary in the hope his story could save lives, as well as to honour Arron Light, a youth who was allegedly murdered<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about kids in the suburbs killing themselves,\u201d Roberts said of gay men struggling with their sexuality.<\/p>\n Ian Roberts.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the premise, that\u2019s what this story is about, that\u2019s how important it is. It always comes back to Arron Light for me. All this bigotry [after coming out] 30 years ago, we haven\u2019t really progressed that far.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t mind my name being used to get this message out there. It\u2019s called the Ian Roberts story, but it\u2019s not my story, it\u2019s about three kids who all died. We can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0ea5ff28e9e94e3e338a5a3de75594d92f1159ca.jpeg\")
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