⚡ MINI: Mitch Brown Becomes First Openly Gay Or Bisexual Player In AFL History

Former AFL Player Comes Out As Bisexual, Sparking An Important Conversation

After years of homophobic language in AFL, former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown has bravely come out as bisexual. His courageous act is the catalyst for an open discussion about sexuality and inclusivity in professional sports.

Brown's revelation comes on the heels of the recent homophobic slur controversy involving Adelaide's Izak Rankine. In a podcast interview, Brown describes a toxic culture of homophobia in AFL locker rooms. He recounts an appalling incident where players said they'd "rather be in a cage full of lions than shower next to a gay man."

However, Brown says he feels privileged to live in a time where he can be open about his sexuality. He hopes his story will empower others in the LGBTQ+ community. This historic moment is long overdue in AFL's 129-year history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I heard podcasts here more mixed one or two point
three podcasts, playlists and listen live on the free iHeart.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
App all right about four o'clock yesterday, I reckon it was.
I was sending you guys some links on WhatsApp, and
it was about Mitch Brown, the former West Coast Eagles player.
I'm gonna be honest, I had never heard of him. Obviously,
it's a footy player. I'm not overly into footy.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
But he played. He retired in twenty sixteen and he
played just under one hundred games. Yeah knock.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
But I will always remember him now because I think
what happened yesterday was so powerful, and it's off the
back of Isaac Rankin. Everyone's been talking about it, the
F word, it's homophobic slur, the homophobic slur, and it
actually turns out. I think it's excellent what's happened because
everyone is talking about this and hopefully people are growing
up going let's not use that word anymore. But it

(00:57):
did spark a lot of people doing podcasts talking about
homophobia and the I guess masculine culture in AFL. Mitch
Brown a week ago, obviously was listening to these podcasts
and this talk about homophobian AFL, and something in him
has gone, I'm just going to do this. I'm just
going to send the Daily Os Sam a text message,

(01:20):
and I am just going to talk about something that
has not been spoken about in one hundred and twenty
nine years.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
And Jaleels is one of these podcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
This is what he said.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
My text message said, Hey, Sam, I played in AFL
for ten years for the West Coast Eagles and I'm
a bisexual man. And that's all it said.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Right, so this now, Sam was like, Okay, we need
to talk about this. I feel so dumb that I
did not know that in one hundred and twenty nine years,
no male player in the AFL has come out as
bisexual or gay. I've grown up with a gay brother,
my parents, my mum's best friend is a lesbian. I've

(01:58):
grown up my whole life just it's such a normal,
commonplacing in my family. And I cannot believe that all
these men, thousands of men in the AFL, and no
one has come out as in like it's a bad thing.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
It's COmON place across pretty much all the major male
sporting leagues. About Josh Cavallo from Adelaide United. He was
maybe three or two or three years ago the first
openly gay male professional football at like on the planet,
Isaac Humphries for the thirty six is now start af
openly gay NBL.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Who cares who you love? I just get so annoyed
by this.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'm agree with you.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
I'm just saying I know you are. I'm just saying
there's like, there's two. There's one in the A League,
one in the NBL. From a male point of view,
That's that's pretty much it.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
And I think obviously the way he talks about this,
there was one thing he said that just made me like,
go oh, I feel sick.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
I want to vomit.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I'm so sorry that this is how it is in
the AFL. It was this comment, and this was.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Bought up at one time when I was playing around
no gay men in the AFL. I remember two people
having a conversation around how they would feel having a
shower next to a gay man, and one of the
players referred to it, I'd rather be in a cage
full of lines than have a shower next to a
gay man.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, does it make you feel sick?

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I like to think that times have changed a bit
in the ten years since he's retired.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
If no one else has come out, no.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
But I feel like things have progressed quite quickly for
the young I think that you'd find a lot of
the blokes playing now, because obviously you retire when you're
thirty in footy pretty much. A lot of the younger
generation hopefully are more and I believe they are, I hope,
so progressive in that way.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
You're a footy player, you have showers.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
With him mates all the time, and be honest, I
love the showers.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Does anyone ever think about this kind of stuff?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
N Not to my knowledge, Not to my knowledge.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
I love the shower after a game with a beer,
talking smack with everyone about what we've just done in
our crappy, little C grade footy competition.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Is like the best. It's so fun.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
But him saying that is like him feeling like just
because he's gay, that he's a predator, that he's going
to be you need to fear him.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Why would you who care so you love?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Why would you want to be the first person to
come out in the AFL at the moment like you
have had six blokes in the last year use a
homophobic slur.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Have like the comments sections on all of the things
over on Isaac Rankin over the last week are so
like vitriolic hatred. Yeah, it's not just like, oh, I
understand this point of view, It's just like, no, you're wrong,
My point of view is right.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Why would you want to be the first person to
cop that? All?

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Right?

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, this is the thing, Max. I love that he's
done that and he actually explains why he's done it
and the reason behind it.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Have a list.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
It's such a privilege. The fact that I can see
here and say I'm comfortable and strong in talking about
my sexuality such a privilege. Part of the reason why
I wanted to share some of my experiences is so
those people, whether they want to start talking about it
with their partner or with their friends or someone in
their community, that they feel seen and then it's okay.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Max, as a footy man, do you reckon? There would
be many gay men in the AFL right now? There
are one hundred percent gay people in the AFL.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
So why don't they feel comfortable coming out because of
what you just said?

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Because because so, how do we change that? True?

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I just like it just needs to change, doesn't it.
Like you said, though, the younger people like my kids
like that. Maybe it's just because of the way I'm
bringing them up, because it's just a normal thing. It
doesn't matter who you marry. I've always said that to them.
I feel like younger people will be different. I think
in maybe fifty they are.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
But the younger abnormal.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
The only people that you have to wear the opinion
of I know, when you're in a public I like that.
But like I don't want to paint all the older
people with the same brush. I don't want to paint
all the younger people with the same But.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
There's a big brush that is being painted, and that's
why no one has come out. Like he's with a
woman at the moment. He's got kids, he's got two
boys that he you know, like I just the one
thing that I took away from this was that Isaac Rankin,
as bad as that was, he sparked change. And I
hope that, you know, like Mitch Brown has felt comfortable
to come out. This may never he may never have

(06:06):
come out because unless Isaac had had have been in
the news a week ago, this has made him come
out going, Oh, I'm going to talk about this so
I'm not saying what Isaac did was good, but if
you can think of a positive to it, hopefully it
is going to spark change and more people talk about
this and normalize it. Who cares who you love.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
It's not mentioned in the women's legs, so exactly how
would you think about it in the men's Yeah,