Gareth Thomas responds to All Blacks rainbow laces tribute
New Zealand Rugby announces on Twitter that players will wear rainbow laces in Saturday's match against Italy in Rome
Friday 23 November 2018 21:27, UK
Former Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas has issued a heartfelt response to the All Blacks' announcement that they will wear rainbow laces in Saturday's Test match against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico.
The former Wales captain, who came out as gay in 2009, was the victim of a homophobic assault in Cardiff last Saturday evening.
France announced they would wear rainbow laces on their boots for Saturday's match with Fiji as a show of support to Thomas and the LGBT community, before Wales announced they would do the same for their meeting with South Africa.
"All Blacks players will show their support for former Wales captain Gareth Thomas by wearing rainbow laces in their match against Italy tomorrow. #rainbowlaces #pride," the world champions' official account tweeted on Friday.
Thomas, who had already thanked the French and Welsh rugby administrators, quickly responded via his own Twitter account.
"I wish I could put in words what this means," Thomas said.
Thomas posted a video on social media the day after the attack, thanking the police and revealing that he had opted to deal with his attacker using restorative justice.
The former full-back said he chose to talk to the perpetrator, a 16-year-old boy, about the harm he had caused, "because I thought they could learn more that way than any other way".
