ON a night in late February, Gareth Thomas – former captain of the Welsh Rugby Union team and the most famous gay team sportsman in the world – took his family and friends to a theatre press night.

He is no stranger, now, to shiny showbiz events but this was special. The play being premiered was Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage, which tells his own extraordinary story, set against that of his hometown Bridgend. From Tuesday to Saturday, it will be running at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.

The sight and sound of Thomas’s family watching his story unfold is hard to beat as in image of acceptance, although perhaps his reincarnation as a star of family pantomimes comes close.

Does this mean things have changed? Would it be easier today for a young player to come out, Gareth?

“I'd like to think so," he says. "The fear I had was that no one had done it before, so I had no idea if I was going to get any support. I had no idea what the crowd’s reactions or the reaction from my teammates would be, or from the press.

"When you're the first person to do something, everybody is unsure of what to do. I went through some bad times, but the majority of it was good times and I’d like to think people can look at that and think ‘he did it, he got through it, he carried on playing, he didn't lose much from it, in fact he gained a lot from it’. I think mine is a positive story that people can look at and think ‘yeah, I can too’.”

In Wales, rugby is not only a team sport; it is the people’s game in the way football is in England. It is the centre of communities, whether that community is a small town or the Welsh nation itself. That his coming out, while still a major player, has been so uncontroversial is heartening, but he remains a rarity.

Thomas says it is about more than just looking for the famous cases.

“To me it’s important not just that a professional rugby player could potentially come out, it’s that anybody can decide to take up sport. There are billions of people in the world that play sport and the fact that it could make a difference to a few of them is enough for me. I know for a fact there are a few people out there who’ve had the courage to join a team because of what happened with me.”

Does he feel an obligation to gay sports people?

“100 per cent” he says, then qualifies it.

“I never came out because I felt I had an obligation to a community; I had to come out because I felt I had no life left to live. But after coming out, I realised that I do have a responsibility to others, and I have to take it seriously. When you realise you could influence somebody else's life, that's a massive responsibility.”

Thomas has encountered homophobia, although "not so much now, but I’m a stronger person".

"When I came out, I was very self-conscious. I’d be constantly looking out for how people looked at me or listening to someone who’d just walked past in the street to see if they’d say something," he says.

"I didn’t want people to dislike me or judge me for my sexuality. In sport, you’re trying to please people all the time and it’s very hard to stop thinking that way. Now, if someone does have a problem with me, that person becomes irrelevant. That comes over time, and from realising who your friends are.”

Since coming out, Thomas has worked with young people in Wales and across Britain, and while he believes it is difficult to give generic advice to to a young person struggling with the idea of coming out, "because coming out is such a personal thing," he does say this: "I get a lot of credit for coming out but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my mum and dad and my friends.

"So I’d say, the best thing is to find two pillars; it could be your parents or close friends. And then you realise, the rest of the world could hate you but you’ve got someone to fall back on. And it will be all right. Find your support network, your fail-safe. Your bookends. I was lucky; I had a great family and friends.”

Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage, Courtyard Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.45pm plus Thursday, 2pm, and Saturday, 2.30pm, but no show on Good Friday. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or wyp.org.uk

Did you know?

Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage was the idea of veteran theatre director Max Stafford-Clark, himself a keen former scrum-half. The play been written by his regular collaborator, Robin Soans, a specialist in “verbatim” plays, based on extensive interviews with real people.