Last 2 weeks Australian Story on ABC has featured David Pocock as below (extract from Wikipedia). I notice some contributors sometimes write about Rugby. Apparently he is something of a rugby star and involved with Brumbies, I believe the
local team. Rugby is not my interest but this ABC programme also talked about his interest in birds, though mainly in Africa. I wonder whether anyone had encountered him in COG events. He may be a good ally.
Philip
David Pocock (born
23 April 1988) is an Australian rugby union player.
He is an openside flanker and
is vice captain of the Brumbies.[2]
Early and personal life[edit]
Pocock grew up in Zimbabwe and migrated with his family to Brisbane, Australia in 2002.
He was educated at the Anglican
Church Grammar School in Brisbane.
In 2005, he played in the school's undefeated premiership-winning 1st XV alongside future Wallabies teammate Quade
Cooper. That same year, he was selected to play in the Australian
Schoolboys national rugby union team, the highest level of schoolboy rugby in Australia.[2]
In between the Force's UK tour and the Wallabies 2008 Spring Tour he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro (the tallest mountain in Africa) with one of his friends, Morgan Clarke. At the end of
2010, he and his best friend Emma held a commitment ceremony before family and friends in Perth; they have pledged to refuse to enter into marriage until it is open to same-sex couples in Australia.[3] David
and his friend Luke O’Keefe run a not-for-profit organisation, Eightytwenty Vision, which has the aim of helping the less fortunate people of Zimbabwe.
In November 2014, Pocock was charged over a protest against a coal mine in New South Wales.[4]
David is concerned about climate change and the damage to the environment from human activities. He has publicly expressed his views on these issues and has taken part in action.
Most notably, he visited the Leard Blockade against the expansion of the Maules Creek mine in
the Leard State Forest and was arrested for taking part in a nonviolent protest.
Pocock is also one of the most visible campaigners in professional sports in Australia against homophobia, actively taking a stand both on and off the field.[12]
Alongside this, he has been a public advocate in the campaign for marriage equality in Australia and has been a guest on the ABC's panel show Q&A passionately debating opposition
to legalising gay marriage. Although he and partner Emma Palandri held a 'wedding' ceremony in 2010, they have refused to sign the legal documents binding their marriage in law until their gay friends are able to do the same.[13]
