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The weekly television program The Footy Show (well known for its misogynistic attitudes and sexist and homophobic humour) even ran a panel to talk about homosexuality in football in which Ian Roberts participated. However, throwing into relief this ostensibly open-minded approach, Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin, one of i.t. The Footy Show hosts and an ex-player, let it slip that he had heard that Ian was gay but had doubted the authenticity of the rumour because i.t. he thought Roberts was ‘a good bloke’.14 Despite the fact that Vautin later apologised for this statement, his attitude characterises the reception that rugby league i.t. gave Ian Roberts following the declaration of his homosexuality. What becomes apparent in Freeman’s biography of the football star is that the rugby league community’s ‘acceptance’ of Roberts is mediated through his body. It is not the acceptance of homosexuality that wins him a place in the rugby league world but rather his ability to perform heterosexual masculinity: a masculinity that is first and foremost bodily.
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