The great decisive duel of Rugby World Cup 2015, between New Zealand and Australia, which takes place this Saturday at 13pm, has just gained another factor of greatness: the Welsh Nigel Owens, the only openly gay referee in rugby, will officiate the final.
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The choice to nominate him for such an important task, however, cannot be considered surprising.
In his third World Cup, Owens has long been recognized as one of the best. Feeling "humble and honorable", he thanked the choice and the support he received on his Twitter.
Appointed as an international judge in 2005, he has since had a prominent career. He is one of only two referees to have served in two consecutive Heineken Cup finals, in 2008 and 2009. The competition is a kind of Champions League of rugby and was replaced by the European Rugby Champions Cup in 2014. It was still in a third decision, in 2012.
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He made his World Cup debut in 2007, in a match between Argentina e Georgia. Months earlier, he had revealed his sexual orientation and, as he said in interviews at the time, he expected his career to end there, but the opposite happened.
Supported from all sides within the rugby, he recognizes that it was the best decision he could make. "My life has changed, my refereeing has changed. If there's one thing that refereeing requires, it's that you be completely focused on the 80 minutes. If something is messing with your head, it gets in the way.
A happy referee is a good referee." Since then, in addition to his notoriety on the field, he has become a celebrity off it, also becoming a television presenter in Wales and being named, in 2007, "Gay Personality of the Year in sports" by the group Stonewall, which fights for LGBT rights.
THE ALMOST SUICIDE
Today an example to be followed, Owens has already gone through difficult times, which he himself says he regrets, before feeling safe enough to talk about his sexuality even with his family. In 1997, at the age of 26, the Welshman came close to committing suicide.
"I was wasting away very quickly, going to a place of darkness and no way out. I did something one night that I will regret for the rest of my life: I wrote a goodbye note to my parents, saying that I couldn't go on living any longer." , but without saying why", he said in a recent interview with the BBC.
"I left my house that night with a loaded shotgun, a few boxes of paracetamol and a bottle of whiskey, and just walked around the village of Mynydd Cerrig one last time." Luckily, Nigel ended up "blacking out" with the combination of medicine and drink, and being hospitalized.
"If I hadn't gone into a coma, I would have pulled that trigger." The near-death experience, whether through suicide or coma, affected the referee. Revealing first to his mother and then to his father that he was gay, he celebrates the fact that he has always received support, including from his professional colleagues in the sport.
"I had a choice, I could continue living a lie and continue refereeing, or reveal everything. I wasn't happy with my life, and I wasn't refereeing well. I had played some international matches and hadn't done well. I made the right decision, because I knew that the way I was, it wouldn't work out with a judge."
Source: ESPN
