"I think most of the opinions of the girls is that 60 Minutes was not interested in the fact the girls were gold medal winners," Towers said before flying out with the Hockeyroos for a five-match tour of Argentina. 

"They were just interested in one of the girls (Annan) in the team because she has turned gay. 

"It is really sad that your sexual and personal lives come into it to be able to get a story. 

"I think it's a disgrace to 60 Minutes." 

Annan, voted the best female hockey player in the world in 1999, is sharing a house in Amsterdam with her lover, former Dutch hockey captain Carole Thate, who led her side to a bronze medal in Sydney. 

The pair's relationship blossomed after the Olympics, when the star striker ended a two-year marriage with Argentine national hockey player Max Caldas. 

In an interview earlier this year Annan described herself as a woman in her first gay relationship, rather than a lesbian. 

No stranger to controversy after posing nude as the Australian Pear Industry Ambassador in 1999, Hockeyroos vice-captain Louise Dobson urged her teammates to support Annan. 

"It is something that is very much accepted, homosexuality or heterosexuality, everyone accepts everything these days," the fullback said. 

"If it was an every day Joe Blow it wouldn't be such a big issue. 

"People are going to obviously have opinions but in the end it is basically what Alyson wants to do and I think that is acceptable. 

Annan is expected to return to Australia in early June after agreeing with new national coach David Bell to undertake a two-month program ahead of the Hockeyroos' Champions Trophy title defence in the Netherlands in August. 

Hockeyroos high performance manager Judy Lang said the 60 Minutes interview was likely to have a bearing on how well Annan was received.