When Stuart Hogg marked the proudest day in a glittering international rugby career a year and half ago, no one was at all surprised when he made it a family affair.
It was the occasion of his 100th cap for Scotland. He carried his youngest child in his arms while the older ones tagged along behind him as he strode onto the Murrayfield grass to deafening applause.
His wife Gillian was, at the time, pregnant with their fourth child. If his sporting career was entering its winter, his home life – it seemed – basked in spring.
Monday was a very different family affair. This time, Hogg, 32, was the son in tow behind his grim-faced parents Margaret and John as they led the way into Selkirk Sheriff Court.
There, as their son sat in the dock, they learned what kind of husband he had been to his wife over a five-year period.
Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg had cultivated an image of being a family man
However the true nature of his relationship with estranged wife Gillian was revealed during his domestic abuse trial
The court heard that Hogg would track his wife’s movements and bombard her with messages
He was the kind who would bombard her with unwanted text messages – one day he sent more than 200, many of them unpleasant and aggressive, in the space of two hours.
He tracked her movements using phone technology when she was out – and when he was enjoying nights on the town he came home drunk and berated her for ‘not being fun’.
He was the kind of husband, the court was told, who made his wife wish it was morning when he would be sober again.
Ultimately, in her seventh month of pregnancy, Gillian Hogg took the children and moved into her parents’ home after seeking advice from a service which supports those suffering domestic abuse.
Her absence from the house did not shield her from the barrage of combative texts which followed, the court heard.
Later, after he moved out of the family home in Hawick, she and the children moved back in. He turned up there, acting aggressively. He was the kind of man, his parents learned, whose family had to hide from him when he behaved liked this.
On this occasion they holed up in one of the children’s bedrooms until he was gone.
It is all a far cry from the quintessential family man image presented that day at Murrayfield in March 2023.
The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic abuse at Selkirk Sheriff Court
Gillian is said to have been ‘completely blindsided’ by his relationship with retired jockey Leonna Mayor
In fact, the charge Hogg admitted on Monday marks him out as a controlling boor who was seemingly impervious to the effects of his behaviour on those closest to him.
His wife ‘became scared of him.’ His unpleasantness and belligerence led to her having a panic attack.
None of this was known about the rugby star around this time last year when it first emerged his seven-year marriage was in trouble.
It was clear only that something must be seriously wrong because Hogg was pictured not with his wife, helping to care for their then six-day old daughter, but instead kicking back with glamorous retired jockey Leonna Mayor in a spa in Staffordshire.
It was the racing presenter who posted the selfie of herself at the spa with Hogg in a bathrobe beside her, grinning from ear to ear. Accompanying the picture was a ‘loved up’ emoji and a caption reading: ‘The least Mondayest Monday ever’.
The social media post was widely considered at the time to be crass and insensitive. Hogg had just become a father for the fourth time – and here he was ‘flaunting’ his relationship with a minor TV celebrity.
Though Gillian Hogg did not speak publicly about it at the time, she was said to have been ‘completely blindsided by this’. A friend said: ‘She’s broken into a million pieces. Having their fourth child was supposed to be a happy time for them as a family, but instead her life has been torn apart.’
The social media posts kept coming. In December last year Hogg and Mayor were posting on Instagram pictures from Dubai, where they were holidaying together – although they avoided appearing in the same shot.
News of the new romance brought almost immediate repercussions in Hawick. Hogg had been due to co-host the local rugby club’s anniversary dinner in late November last year but withdrew at short notice.
At the time of his retirement Hogg was his country’s leading try scorer and is one of just three players to make 100 appearances for Scotland
A few days later, vandals defaced the Hornshole Monument in the town, daubing it with slurs aimed at Hogg.
Later in December Hogg finally addressed the issue of his love life head on, saying in a statement that the ‘online abuse has crossed a line that is impacting my family, relationships and wellbeing.’ He added: ‘I’m upset that people think that I have not been there for my children – this is not the case. I do and will continue to see them often. My marriage ended some time before the baby was born. It was the best decision for us all.’
And yet Hogg seemed content to keep feeding the beast. Within days of the statement, he posted a picture of himself and Mayor in their finery at Musselburgh Races.
There were pictures of them posing next to their tree at Christmas while In February, on the day Scotland played Wales in their Six Nations opener in Cardiff, he posted a picture of Mayor with the caption: ‘This little beauty’s first rugby game. Great result for the Scotland Team lads.’
Who knows what the message for fans was supposed to be. What is abundantly clear was neither Hogg nor Mayor had any intention of keeping their love affair off Instagram, however it might reflect on them.
In Hogg’s case, the details of Monday’s court appearance reveal the dismal events going on in the background while he trailed his new relationship on social media.
He was still domestically abusing the mother of his children – indeed, the charge he admitted to reveals this course of behaviour continued until as recently as August.
A year and a half on from that last Murrayfield appearance, it is Mayor, not his wife, who is expecting his next child. She has lately been showing off her baby bump – and revealing the unborn child’s sex (a boy) on Instagram, as well as asking her 37,000 followers for recommendations for cots and prams.
Only three other players have notched up 100 caps or more for the international team and, at the time of his retirement from the side, no Scottish player had scored more tries for his country than Hogg.
Hogg called time on his career in 2023 but returned to the sport earlier this year
The goodwill for him in every corner of the stadium that day in March 2023 was palpable.
And yet there is a sense he may have lost much more than his international career in the period – chief among them, perhaps, the respect and admiration of his fellow countrymen.
In the aftermath of his short-lived retirement from professional rugby last year that Hogg whined in interviews about the ‘abuse’ he had received on social media over his proneness to injuries.
He said: ‘People think because we’re sportsmen we’ve got everything that we want and life’s a piece of p*** and we’ve got the dream job or whatever.
‘They completely forget that we’re judged on 80 minutes of our week. Whereas the rest of the week we’re a normal human being that has to be a husband, to be a dad.’
It turned out that Hogg was premature about his retirement – he now plays for French side Montpellier – and hypocritical about abuse.
As he admitted in court Monday, he dished it out to his wife for five long years.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2024-11-05 02:19:27
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