At last - a sportsman we can all be proud of.

Today, thanks to one man, we’re talking about homophobia in sport.

It should never be shocking when someone does the right thing.

We should never be surprised when decency and respect wins out over thoughtless thuggery.

But too often, when it comes to sportsmen, we are.

Because when it comes to what we’re used to when it comes to the men who populate the national psyche as sporting heroes, it’s drug scandals, sex scandals, cheating scandals, betting scandals, brawling scandals, gang scandals. So much scandal we are almost immune.

But today, the headlines belong to a football (well, rugby) player for the right reasons – David Pocock, of the ACT Brumbies, called out homophobic slurs on the field yesterday when he complained to the referee – not once, but twice, that a member of the opposing team, NSW’s Waratahs, had called players “faggots”.

Pocock approached the referee on the field and told him, “You heard that sir … you can’t say that, there could be gay players out there.”

And after the match, the Wallaby clarified exactly why it mattered to him, ““It is not a matter of going after one particular [player who said it], it is just saying ‘this isn’t something we want to see in our game’. We want to be inclusive for people watching and people playing. That’s what it comes down to.”

Read more: The first openly gay NFL player shares a kiss with his boyfriend on television.

Bravo, right? Isn’t that the kind of man we would all be proud for our sons to become? Or to have as a team-mate, a partner, a best friend, a father? A man who isn’t afraid to call out abuse when he sees it.

Apparently not. In the blokey football world, some see Pocock as a trouble-maker, a profile-raising peacock, a humourless activist who should fall in line and remember who his mates are.

After all, this is a man who was arrested last December for chaining himself to machinery while protesting against a coal mine in north-west New South Wales, an incident that saw him given an official warning by the Australian Rugby Union.

Even his skipper doesn’t have his back. This is what Brumbies’ captain Stephen Moore said about the on-pitch incident.

“It’s always like that… I think off the field there’s a lot of guys out there that are quite good mates… so they know each other pretty well and there was a bit of banter out there.

“But I think it was all in the spirit of the game, and that’s the way it goes out there and I didn’t see it as an issue.”

Banter? Thanks, Boss.

As a matter of enormous necessity, professional sport has a culture of ‘team first’ – and often admirable goal of making sure that any one individual, no matter how talented, does not rise about the group.

Want more? Try: He said gay sex was “kind of gross”. The response? Priceless.

But when this culture of loyalty becomes an excuse for a ‘blokes code’, where mates don’t criticise mates, and transgressions don’t get reported, and the sort of abuse that excludes whole groups from the field because of say, their sexual orientation or race is seen as harmless banter, when we are at that point, we should all be praising the heavens for sporting “heroes” with principals.

That’s sporting heroes who don’t let the “blokes’ code” become an excuse for racism, homophobia or misogyny.

Men who know that they will earn irritation and worse from their teammates for speaking out, but do it because it is right.

Men who care about issues beyond their dressing room, and aren’t afraid to use their fame to shine a light on them.

Read more: Why it matters that Ian Thorpe came out.

Men who know that little children’s eyes are on them, watching what they do, what they say, what they tolerate.

Sporting heroes like Ian Thorpe, Freddy Flintoff, Hazem el Mazri, Mathew Mitchum, Patt Rafter, Matt Shirvington, John Eales, and Adam Goodes.

Sporting heroes like David Pocock.

Flick through to see some of the sportsmen who are speaking out for good causes… (post continues below) 

There will be a report into whether what was said on that football field constitutes abuse.  But because of what Pocock said on the field yesterday, today people are talking about homophobia in sport.

And because of what Pocock said on the field yesterday, we are given another example of the real strength of a big man in a rough game isn’t measured by the power of his fist, or his sledge.

Real strength is measured by having the guts to stand up for something even bigger than the team.

 Who would you add to the list of sportsmen we should admire?

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