Bristol Bisons provide a safe and open environment for gay, straight and bisexual people to play rugby, regardless of their ability, age or experience.
Ken joined Bristol Bisons in 2016. These rugby boots and shirt are part of his original kit.

In Kenya, where he grew up, homosexuality is criminalised. Bristol Bisons stood with Ken to successfully fight his deportation.

Listen to Ken’s story:

Read the transcript from Ken’s story:

[00:00:00] [Rugby training atmos]

[Newsreel “It’s been a crucial morning for a gay rugby player, who’s fighting deportation to Kenya because he fears persecution there…”]

Ken: My name is Kenneth Macharia. I’m a gay man. I’m originally from Kenya and I have refugee status to remain in the UK.

Oh, when I first moved to Bristol, I found everyone to be really friendly. I was in uni at the time and we had a very nice warm, welcoming community. Everyone was friendly, everyone from different regions of the world. I still had my reservations about being openly gay. So I still came with the same fears and I was still behaving in the same manner, hiding who I was.

So, it did take a while for me to open-up and start living openly. [Rugby atmos: chanting] My ex-partner at the time joined a football team and he made friends really quickly. And I thought, oh, a team sport is [00:01:00] a nice way to make friends. And I wanted to have more gay friends. So, I did a Google search and that’s how I found the Bristol Bisons.

On the first day I was welcomed warmly. Since I had not played for a long time, there was someone who was with me all the time, guiding me, making sure I can keep up with everyone else. I had a wonderful experience joining the team and that’s how I knew I had made the right the choice and that’s why I’ve stayed in the club since.

[Rugby atmos: Oh, I tried that once…] I had been living in the UK for while since 2009, and there came a time when I needed to renew my work visa. And, uh, that’s when it dawned on me that I did not want to leave my home. I had been living openly as a gay man, and I did not want to go back to Kenya and go into the closet and hide who I am. And that’s when I found a document that stated being unable to live openly and freely as a [00:02:00] gay man is a basis for claiming asylum in the UK. And seeing that I was really happy. So I was not nervous or fearful when I made the claim.

[Newsreel: “…asylum saying that as a gay person, he feared persecution in Kenya qualified man in an excellent job. He was well supported by his community…”]

Ken: My confidence was at the lowest when I was locked up in a detention centre, I was feeling extremely hopeless. I was feeling like staying in bed all day, not doing anything, but I got a lot of encouragement from my friends, teammates. [Rugby atmos: cheering] They started campaigning and raised the petition that got a lot of signatures. And that gave me lots of hope and it was only the encouragement of my teammates and friends and the general public that kept me going at this stage.

[Newsreel: “…won his legal battle after a judge agreed he wasn’t…”]

Ken: I was extremely happy when my lawyer called me and told me that I had [00:03:00] won. I knew my torment was over.