NRL star Toby Rudolf reveals why spoke about his same-sex experiences during Manly’s pride fiasco

Cronulla Sharks forward Toby Rudolf never had a father, calls himself the Kmart version of Jason Momoa and has a rescue puppy named Louie. He is also the only active NRL player to admit he has kissed other men.

At the height of the Manly pride jersey fiasco that saw seven players withdraw from their match against the Sydney Roosters, Rudolf came forward to let the NRL world know that he was attracted to both women and men.

‘Sexuality is very fluid. I’ve been out and kissed many gay men, kissed many straight women and kissed many gay women,’ Rudolf told the Sydney Morning Herald at the time.

Rudolf has become a fan favourite at the Shire with his big personality and outgoing nature

Now, Rudolf has opened up on why he made those comments in a wide-ranging interview with Fox Sports. 

‘I just love love, baby,’ he laughed.

‘I wanted to throw my support behind the community that has been there my whole life.

‘And also I am not too fussed to speak about anything about me. I’m not really scared of anything, letting people know about the things that I do.

Rudolf identifies as heterosexual but said that could be fluid and he has kissed gay men

‘The main thing is the LGBTQI+ community was sort of dragged through the mud a bit that week and I just wanted to give them a bit of a boost.

‘In the background, I really want to get on a Mardi Gras float and that is probably the best way I can go about it.’

Rudolf is not afraid of being honest and speaking his mind, saying he annoys most people when they first meet because they talk too much.

He said the response to his comments had been overwhelming.  

‘[The reception] was really positive,’ he said.

‘You are always going to have a couple of negative comments, but 99 per cent of people applauded me, my bravery and stuff which I didn’t really think it was that brave, I just thought it was me just talking about my stuff.

‘I went out to Northie’s that night after we won that golden point game and everyone there was just being really nice as well, very supportive, saying they loved what I said.

Manly players called up to replace the teammates who stood down over the pride jersey

‘Overall, it was just overwhelmingly positive. I was really nicely surprised.’

 Rudolf is aiming to break down the stigma in rugby league that surrounds

‘There’s always going to be a stigma around it, especially with us playing such a hard man’s sport,’ he said.

‘There’s still a stigma about being gay and all this and whatever.

‘We just need to get over it, I think.

Rudolf wants NRL players to be their authentic selves and not to buy into the sport’s stigma

‘I can understand where people are coming from with the religious background and whatnot, but the general world today and the modern world is just ELE, everybody love everybody.

 Rudolf wants to challenge the norm of rugby league culture and has urged young players to remain true to themselves, not letting others influence their decision-making.

‘It’s a bit individual. You don’t have to conform to masculinity, you don’t have to conform to being heterosexual, just be the person you want to be,’ he said.

‘In football culture there has been this misconception of what it is to be a man and be tough, burly, whatever you might say.

‘But you want to live in a world where everyone is comfortable in their own skin and just comfortable being who they are. Loving who they love and just hanging out with who they want to hang out with.’