By calling out homophobia on the field, David Pocock was just enforcing the very principles the rugby world claims to uphold. Pity the sport's bosses don't share his approach, writes Tracey Holmes.

"We take the issue of homophobia in sport seriously," says Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver.

Why then is former Wallabies captain David Pocock - the player who reported the homophobic slur in a weekend Super 15 match - now being targeted?

In an article in The Australian today by rugby writer Wayne Smith, there are claims that Pocock's "mere presence in the Wallabies now threatens to have a polarising effect".

It goes on.

"The problem is that the ARU could not take the risk that if it reinstated him as Wallabies captain that he wouldn't use his position as a soapbox for his personal beliefs."

A soapbox? His "personal beliefs"? These are the very beliefs the ARU has inscribed in its player code of conduct. These are the beliefs that prompted the four codes of football and cricket to stand on a stage last year and declare they were united in their commitment to ending homophobia in sport.

How serious are they then when NSW Waratahs player, Jacques Potgieter, uses a homophobic slur that most likely would have been ignored had Pocock not heard it and reported it to the referee? By reporting it to the referee it had to be investigated further.

The referee-cam recorded the conversation. Well done, David Pocock. Well done, referee-cam.

Others have bemoaned the fact there are so many microphones and cameras on the field now and that Pocock broke the age old rule that "what happens on the field stays on the field". But that doesn't apply any more. This is 2015. It is not OK to keep quiet about domestic violence in the home and it's not all right that bigoted athletes can get away with abusing others on the field.

Don't sports bodies, like the ARU, keep telling us about the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that come from playing sport?

A principled person who has a history of making his beliefs public and standing by them when the pressure is on should be the exact person they turn to to uphold what they claim are the very hot-button beliefs they stand for as a sport.

Pulver said Potgieter's comments during the weekend match breached the players code of conduct that prohibited homophobic or racist comments. It's similar to comments he made when Queensland Reds player Karmichael Hunt admitted last month to using recreational drugs outside the football season when he wasn't yet signed to the code of rugby union.

So let's look at how seriously the ARU takes these "code of conduct" breaches.

The ARU fined Potgieter $20,000 - $10,000 of it suspended - and ordered him to undergo further education.

The ARU suspended Hunt for six weeks and fined him $30,000.

The ARU is not as serious about stamping out homophobia as it is about tackling a social drug issue that occurred outside its jurisdiction and for which Hunt had already been found guilty and fined in a court of law.

As for Potgieter, he has given the apology you give when you are not sure you've done something wrong.

"I'm very sorry for any offence caused by what I said on the field during a heated encounter. It was an offhand remark made without thought for the hurt it could cause to those around me," he said in a statement.

First of all, he's sorry for any offence caused - not for what he said. Next, it was only an "offhand comment". Actually it wasn't, it broke the rules of the ARU code.

Sports bodies have a history of ducking for cover whenever an athlete makes a stand. And yet, these same sports bodies are happy to take the credit when the benefit of time applauds these momentous occasions that alter the path of history.

In 1968 Australian 200 metre runner Peter Norman supported John Carlos and Tommie Smith when they raised their fists to highlight the civil rights struggle in the US. Nelson Mandela used rugby itself to heal a post-apartheid South Africa when his nation hosted the 1995 World Cup. Apartheid's final collapse came partly at the hands of numerous sporting teams refusing to travel to, or play against, South Africa while the racist policies existed and determined who could play the game based on skin colour.

Pocock joins an impressive list of athletes who are not afraid to take a stand - to uphold values that are bigger than the sport itself but are crucial in showing how sport can lead the way to a better society.

Pity, it seems, sports bosses don't see it quite the same way.

Wayne Smith's article in the Australian finishes with this:

If Pocock wants to make political statements, one rugby official told me yesterday, he should stand for parliament. I hope he does. He'd get my vote.

Mine too. It's just a shame that taking a stand against homophobia is seen as something that should be sidelined from sport, despite their claims, and assigned to the political domain. If Pocock's future is stymied because he continues to stand up for what is right then all of rugby's lofty claims will be shattered.

The ARU's inclusion policy will be shown to be nothing more than another empty vessel sailing on the promotional sea of sport.

Tracey Holmes has focussed her career in journalism on sport and its wider implications.