Jenny and I are being educated by both our kids and we now include Daniel here.
Two young men, one from Ohio and the other from a great Scotland rugby dynasty, marching in protest at the killing which shocked the world. There needs to be more education – and more understanding.”Hastings then thinks of all the black players he’s encountered in rugby and how the sport has treated them. Yet homosexuality is still viewed severely in other countries, just as it was in this country half a century ago. That was the goal no?
THE wife of Scots rugby legend Scott Hastings tried to kill herself by eating peanuts to trigger a nut allergy. After a long wait because of the time difference we were able to hear from him. “But I do smile at the story told by the referee Nigel Owens, who’s gay. He’s saying how we live our lives needs to be closer to how God intended them to be.“Man was made for woman to pro create.
We went to bed that night not knowing what was going to happen.”San Francisco’s reaction to Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter campaign for change began peacefully and although there were confrontations later in the day, with activists stressing the march had been hijacked by other groups, Corey and Daniel managed to stay out of trouble.Says Hastings: “We told Corey that at the first sign of any to get out of the way.
Hell awaits you. “They were shouting at the waitresses demanding drinks, while we’d been all ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. The generation which has come after us are better connected, more informed and more engaged.“Daniel has found his voice through Black Lives Matters. He asked if he could switch, maybe thinking that would disappoint me, but of course it didn’t.”His son coming out was greeted with the same laidback response. Not to excuse it at all but some fierce things were said in games: I got called a ‘Scottish c***’”.Rugby, he says, has an in-house system for resolving issues. “Just in case anything happened to him,” adds Jenny who reads it out:“Dear Mum, Dad and Kerry-Anne, today I’m joining a peaceful protest, unarmed but united with Daniel. In rugby there’s maybe been ribbing rather than outright abuse because it’s a sport where you need these tights bonds – trust within the scrum, for instance – because of the sheer physical intensity.”Mention of Guscott’s name immediately has Hastings volunteering the episode from Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam triumph when, in the heat of battle in the winner-takes-all showdown, he called the England great a “black b******”.“It has been an embarrassment to me,” Hastings admits. ‘It was a great day,’ he said. It hurts to know that. Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolators. But that’s why I believe there’s a God. Scott Hastings is a Grand Slam immortal although it is this striking image which is making him proudest right now.The photograph would be a powerful poster for Black Lives Matter but in Hastings’ home in Inverleith, Edinburgh, it is another family snap for the 65-cap centre, his wife Jenny and their daughter Kerry-Anne.The white arm belongs to Hastings’ son Corey and the black arm to Corey’s husband Daniel. They both earned their first cap on 17 January 1986 against France. “I’m in complete awe of my son.” Referring back to Corey’s letter he adds: “The words he uses! I’d love to have a conversation with anyone in rugby who holds such views. A player was writhing on the ground, his captain came over and went ‘Get up, you big poof’, but then spotted Nigel: ‘Oops, sorry ref!’”Then Hastings mentions Australia’s Israel Folau, who declared on social media that “hell awaits” gay people, and England international Billy Vunipola who then defended Folau’s post. He won 65 caps at centre for Scotland from 1986 to 1997. “They got together online, as you do these days,” says Hastings, “and it would be another couple of years before they met face-to-face for the first time. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. I will always be with you. We will be meeting with Billy to discuss his social media posts.”This website and its associated newspaper are members of Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) Twice a member of the British Lions in 1989 (Australia) and 1993 (New Zealand) where he suffered a shattered cheekbone and did not play against the All Blacks. “A dressing-room can be a very honest place and also a discreet one.
“America had blown up, Donald Trump had waded into the situation with his crass comments which only made things worse, and there were riots in the cities, police stations being set on fire and shops looted.