Stephen Bowness

American football is far from a popular sport in New Zealand, where rugby is king. But that hasn’t stopped Stephen Bowness, 46, from his love of the game as a referee there for 17 years. He is also openly gay and recently made history by being the first Kiwi to be head referee at an international American football game. He shared his story with Outsports.

By Stephen Bowness

My name is Stephen Bowness and I’m New Zealand’s leading American Football referee. I’m also gay, which I think is a first at this level. And I made a little bit of history recently.

Two weeks ago I had the honor of being the first New Zealander appointed as referee for an international American football game when I worked an IFAF Junior World Cup Qualifier between Australia and American Samoa on Australia’s Gold Coast. This was my sixth international, but this was my first time in charge and we had the extra challenge of a flooded field to deal with. The Gold Coast had experienced constant heavy rain in the days leading up to the match, which meant that any attempts to mark the field met with failure. We had no opportunity to postpone the match, so we ended up marking the sidelines with cones and used the soccer goal lines which are permanently marked on the field, which shortened the field by around 5 feet at each end. The line judge made all calls regarding first downs as we would never have been able to measure. It was a very one-sided game, with American Samoa winning, 93-7, to qualify for the tournament in Austin, Texas, in June.

My being openly gay has not been an issue for me. While I don’t go out of my way to publicize the fact, I don’t make a secret of it either. Anyone who Googles my name will easily discover that I am also the Musical Director of Auckland’s Gay and Lesbian Singers, a fairly prominent position in the gay community here. My colleagues all know that I’m gay and both they and my Australian colleagues were most supportive of my desire to add my name to the other gay and lesbian sportspeople who are making themselves known in the media at the moment.

A number of our players also know. A few years ago I was working a Friday night game on my birthday. As a special treat, some of the players offered me a visit to the locker room after the match. I politely declined their offer and the whole thing was done in good humor. However, it should also be said that the players could make my life difficult if they chose to do so. Many of them are from conservative Pacific Island backgrounds and all of them are significantly bigger than me.

American Football in New Zealand is a minor sport – a very minor sport. We have two competitions, one based in Auckland with five teams from Auckland and one from nearby Hamilton (this year’s champions) and another with three teams from the capital, Wellington. In Auckland we have around 200 players at a senior level with similar numbers at the Colts and Junior levels. The game has been played here since 1983 and we have just completed our 30th season. As we compete for grounds and players with Rugby and Rugby League we play from November to February, our summer. The game is developing slowly, but has seen regular setbacks over the years. In Auckland we have just nine officials to cover the three senior matches each Saturday (we are unable to cover the youth grades at all) and not all of those are available for every game as some of us are also players. This season, most games were covered by the same core crew of four with a fifth official added for many games. We often found ourselves working three matches in a day (our matches run for around two hours and we have about an hour off in between with all games played at the same ground) and we were lucky this season to have cooler weather for most games with the temperature averaging around 65 degrees. We have played games in temperatures close to 90 degrees with the humidity above 90%.

The level of play is around that of high school in the US, which provides a challenge for those of us who want to progress to higher things. We are very isolated here, so we work very closely with our friends in Australia. We have enjoyed clinics with now-retired Big 10 Referee Dick Honig (whose company supplies all of our equipment) and current Big 10 Referee Bill Lemonnier and I also get support and mentorship from NFL Referee Jeff Triplette, whose crew I spent a day with a few years ago. We maintain relationships with colleagues in Britain (where I worked a game between Sweden and Australia two years ago) and Europe in an effort to share knowledge and experience.

What got me interested in refereeing American Football? At school, I was a very reluctant participant in sports. In a last ditch attempt to get me involved, one of my teachers encouraged me to judge for school rugby matches and to umpire cricket. When I moved to New Zealand in 1982 I continued umpiring cricket at a premier club level in Auckland until my 20s, when I developed colitis. This got so bad that I couldn’t continue and eventually I needed surgery to remove my colon. Meanwhile, the TV networks here began to show weekly highlights of the NFL and, when satellite TV came to New Zealand, we got to see full NFL and college matches each week. By the time I was ready to take up my officiating career again I was hooked on the game and decided to give it a go. I have just completed my 17th season.

I love the game because, for the officials in any case, it’s surprisingly cerebral. The rules are intricate and require constant study. You work as a team and we all have our own responsibilities and zones of coverage. We therefore need to trust and rely on each other to do our jobs and there is a great sense of camaraderie among us. You make decisions on every play. If you detect an infraction of the rules you have to consider whether it gained an advantage or breached player safety before throwing a flag. I have tremendous respect for those officials working in the NFL and at the top levels of the NCAA, particularly the head linesmen and line judges. With the amount of information they must process on every play and the speed of the players it is incredible how accurate they are.

In New Zealand, we are desperate for gay and lesbian sporting role models at an elite level. Here, the All Blacks (our world champion national rugby team) are the gods of sport, but there has never been an out gay rugby player here at a provincial or national level, either active or retired. Our only out gay professional sportsman, Olympic Speed Skater Blake Skjellerup, does an amazing job of maintaining visibility and fronted an anti-bullying campaign here during his off-season break. He’s a great role model for young New Zealanders and hopefully will encourage other young sportspeople to be open about their sexuality.

I hope that in years to come in the so-called ‘macho’ sports like rugby, Rugby League, American Football and soccer we will see people coming out. There is the implication that you cannot participate in these sports if you are gay (English soccer has a particular problem with homophobia) but the coming out of Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas, Welsh Rugby referee Nigel Owens and recently Australian Rugby League referee Matt Cecchin have shown that this is not the case. However, we need more pioneers and a concerted effort from those who run our sports to modify the behavior of the ignorant before we can no longer feel that a gay or lesbian player coming out is a newsworthy event.

Stephen can be reached via email at sbowness@ihug.co.nz.

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It has been one month since a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit my hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. In my first time home since the event, I have come to learn the full extent both physically and emotionally that the quake has had on the city.

During the day, the view out across the city looks like any other day, as if life is as usual. Once darkness falls you notice the lack of light streaming from the buildings that remain, a kilometer square block that stands lifeless and lightless. It saddens me to see a once vibrant city crippled. It is almost unfathomable for me to believe that there are people living in motor homes and in camping grounds because their houses are condemned.

As I sit here contemplating the thought of losing someone dear, like so many have in Christchurch, the emotion almost becomes too much. I feel guilty that life for me is unchanged.

People are leaving the city, and this is completely understandable: An unpredictable force has taken their livelihoods away from them. Normality may not return for some time, and emotionally that is a hard reality to face.

Thousands of business lie in the CBD cordon. Businesses with the capability to relocate temporarily have done so, others have closed for good, and others will wait it out to rebuild their business.

I have friends and family without homes, I have friends and family without jobs. Thankfully I have no family who died, but sadly I have friends who have lost someone very close to them. Still others have lost their homes and their jobs.

As I sit here writing this there is yet another after shock. A loud noise followed by a solid thud. I have not even felt the large quakes, but I am on edge. Every noise has me on edge. It’s unnerving and unsettling. The thought that there could be another large quake is constant.

The recovery effort is an unimaginable task. A city of over 400,000 people depends on the decisions of the local and national government to make Christchurch once again a vibrant city.

Even though the city is down, they still hold compassion for those in Japan. The people of Christchurch have great sympathy for the victims in Japan, and I know that the Japanese are as deeply saddened and sympathetic to those in Christchurch. Together an invisible bond is formed, between people who will never meet. Brothers and sisters in arms, uniting to recover, remember and rebuild.

With the cordon in the CBD, it is as if the heart of the city has been ripped out. In the 36 hours I have been in the city, and the small parts of it I have seen, you can tell that the other major arteries and limbs of the city are working hard to keep the city together.

Nerves are on edge, emotions are high, and the lives of some are in tatters. Comfort for most comes in knowing that one day, maybe 6 months to a year, or even longer from now, the cordon will lift, and people will return to the heart of a city that slowly, but surely, will start beating again.

The thing we all share in common is our love of this once- and still-amazing city. The aftershocks will not last forever, but this city will. The people know they owe it to themselves and the city to stay. A home will always remain a home, and no force can change that.

You can find Blake at his Web site or on Twitter.

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It’s a reminder that no matter how gay-friendly a culture can seem on the outside, all it takes is a couple people to make life difficult for a gay person. Thankfully the more welcoming heads prevailed.

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There isn’t much more about him on the Internet. See more photos and a video interview of him after the jump.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

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“When people think of a pimp they think of a guy standing around on a street corner with gold chains,” he told the Sunday Star Times.

“Pimps are more tough-type guys. I’m an owner of an escort agency.”

Prostitution has been decriminalized in New Zealand and brothels are allowed to operate. Even so, a Taekwondo New Zealand spokesman said Campbell’s brothel might cause him to lose a spot on the international team.

“Selection takes into account not just performance but also the athlete’s ability to serve as an example to the youth of the country,” the NZPA quoted TNZ funding manager John Schofield as saying.

Yes, we must always think of the children!

I think Campbell is showing great entrepreneurial spirit and not breaking any laws. He finished in top 16 in the Beijing Olympics but says he is at a disadvantage over competitors who don’t have to worry about raising money to compete. He does not want to burden his parents, who paid for the majority of his Beijing expenses. He even brought the girls to meet mom.

“Mum was hesitant but she met the girls, a couple came over to her house and she was sweet as. She realized they were just normal people supporting their kids and stuff,” Campbell said.

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Their strength was measured after 36 and 60 hours and compared with those who were given just fruit juice. Those who drank alcohol showed a marked loss in recovery. Study author Matt Barnes, of Massey University, New Zealand, said: “If you drink moderate levels of alcohol after you use your muscles strenuously you are impairing your ability to recover.”

When I’ve been at sports tournaments, I have long passed up alcohol until the competition is over; I always feel so dehydrated after games, alcohol’s the last thing I want to touch. Now with this, I’ll be buying my opponents shots!

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