Ellia Green has won Olympic gold, world series and has competed on the biggest stages in sport, yet it was a club rugby match on a suburban field in Clovelly which proved one of the most special games of his career. Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. Three years after transitioning from female to male, Ellia took to the field for the Sydney Convicts in the men’s NSW Suburban Rugby Competition beating Epping 29-5 in their first game of the season. “It’s given me so much more than just the experience of playing rugby again, it’s given me that feeling of family that rugby has always given me,” Green told foxsports.com.au. “The feeling of like adrenaline every time I get the ball, feeling of excitement when I’m running into contact. Like this is everything that I love.” It’s been a long road back to the rugby field for Green. He was just a teenager when he first entered the Australian Sevens setup in 2013 and three years later won the first ever Rugby 7s gold medal with the Australian women’s side at the Rio Games. But Green battled with injury from there and despite being Australia’s most prolific try scorer in history with 141 tries and the fourth greatest in Sevens history, he was controversially left out of the Australian squad for the Tokyo Games. It was described at the time as the biggest selection call since leaving Matt Giteau out of the World Cup and the toughest call of coach John Manenti’s career. It was a difficult time for Green too and he announced his retirement a short time later believing then that he’d never play rugby again. Ellia Green thought he would never play rugby again. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images “I felt like such a failure after, after the not getting selected to go in Tokyo,” he said. “I felt like I’d let myself down, let my mum down, like I’d let like all the people that support me down, like the burden of that was enormous. In fact, I was ashamed of myself that I couldn’t even leave the house for months. “The one thing actually making me very happy and really excited and something that made me get out of that dark room was my transition.” Green transitioned in 2022, but didn’t pick up a rugby ball again until this year when he received a chance call from his old rugby coach at the Warringah Rats Rugby Club. Green played 15s there for one season as a teenager before making the switch to Sevens. His former coach, Pete Hammond, was now coaching the Sydney Convicts and convinced Ellia to return to the game he once loved. The Convicts were Australia’s first gay and inclusive Rugby Union club founded in 2004 by the now Australian Sports Commission Board Director Andrew Purchas. “The team was incredibly welcoming. There was never a moment where I thought that I’m not meant to be here,” Green said. “There was no mucking around, I think the first session I got there was like, straight into one-on-one contact. It was good, because I didn’t have a moment to think about if I’m meant to be here or not, because we’re going straight into contact.” Ellia Green in action for the Convicts. Source: Supplied Playing rugby again proved both healing and challenging. “It’s a bit of redemption for myself and to just to remind myself of who I am — Ellia Green — like, who I am as a person,” he said. “I need to always challenge myself. What can I do next? What do I think was impossible that I can make possible? What is going to take me out of a comfort zone? “And I thought it’s playing 15s again, playing rugby against the guys and playing in the team that I’m going to love, and then build myself up as a person, but also as an athlete again.” “I also wanted my baby to watch me play,” added Green, who is a dad to three-year-old Waitui. Green is now in a rare position to have played rugby against both women and men, and has fielded many questions about which is harder and how it’s different. “It hurts more to get run out by Sharni Williams,” Green said of his former Australian women’s sevens co-captain. “Shannon Parry (former Sevens co-captain) I used to call the tree, because, she doesn’t move in a contact or in a collision. “Now, when I go up against some of these guys, it’s not that’s not really much different from the power and speed of athletes on the 7s circuit that I played with who are a whole other level.” But the 32 year old admitted there were plenty of nerves before stepping back onto the playing field. Former Rugby Sevens star Ellia Green with daughter, Waitui. Picture: instagram https://www.instagram.com/elliagreen/?hl=en Source: Supplied “I was nervous, sick. I couldn’t eat in the morning, or anything, because I was so stressed,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Am I going to fast enough or strong enough? Is my body going to hold up because of injuries and l tweaked my hamstring at training that week?’ I wasn’t sure if it was going to allow me to run fast. But once I got out there, I was like ‘Ellia seriously, don’t, stop being dramatic’.” Green has clearly found his happy place returning to rugby and hoped sharing his story will help others in a similar place to he was on the transitioning journey. “There are many reasons why I’ve gone back to playing rugby, but this is definitely a strong one, it’s to inspire others,” he said. “I’ve had many people reach out to me that have had maybe similar stories, but also people who haven’t transitioned. Some are feeling anxious about playing contact sport again or going back into anything that makes them a little bit nervous. Or they might be not feel like they belong doing something, but then they saw my post. “I just gave them very simple advice and said don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, because people in this world are always gonna have something to say, right? So you may as well just do whatever you want. “If that makes you happy, playing rugby, do whatever you want to do that makes you happy.” Ellia Green in action for the Convicts. Source: Supplied Transitioning while in the public eye has seen Green also cop abuse from trolls. “I’d be lying if I said there hasn’t been any kind of harm in this world that has come my way since my transition and everything since retiring,” he said. “There’s always going to be people out there that have something they need to say. But on the other side, there’s like 98 per cent of people that message me who are positive. “The minority of people don’t scream hate or bad things to me. So I think I also want to prove those people wrong that I can do anything, like nothing is really stopping me from doing anything. In fact, I’m actually more motivated someone tells me that I can’t do something.” In contrast to the trolls, Green’s instagram was inundated with messages of support from former teammates, athletes and friends when he first announced he was playing rugby again. Even former Australian coach John Manned wrote “You’re going to hurt some people (with a laughing emoji) great to see you playing”. “I was overwhelmed with the love and support and it was confirmation for me that this is exactly where I’m meant to be.” he added. “And so many people in my life that I’ve crossed paths with, and people I’ve met in my career from all around the world, they’re still there and they still support what I’m doing.”