Sad news from Australia. Former professional footballer Stephen Laybutt, who played football in Belgium between 2003 and 2007, has been found dead by police. He was 46 years old.
Stephen Laybutt had been missing since Saturday, when police were notified. After a long search, he was found in the bushes on the northern coast of Australia, Australian media reported. He had traveled from Sydney to the North Coast to visit his friends. It is currently unclear what the cause of death is.
Laybutt played in our country from 2003 to 2007. In the summer of 2003 he exchanged the Australian Brisbane Strikers FC for Excelsior Mouscron. A year later he moved to AA Gent, where he worked until the summer of 2007. He also played eighteen matches for the Australian national team. After his career, he made headlines when he came out as gay. “It was never an option to come out during my career. Never. I didn’t even think I was gay. I doubted. I had some experiences, but I had girlfriends and wanted to get married. I wasn’t ready for this, I didn’t know myself yet. Today a child already knows at the age of ten or twelve that he is gay. I had to have more life experience before I realized it,” he said in an interview with this newspaper a year ago.
You can read the full interview here.
Stephen Laybutt during his time at AA Gent. — © BELGIAN
© Nick Moir
2024-01-15 07:51:50
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