AFL and AFLW players have displayed support for marriage equality, with players from every team signing a petition to mark Wednesday’s International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
Players from 26 teams across both competitions put their names to the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage and called for football fans to join them in persuading the federal government to put the issue to a vote.
Hawthorn captain Jarryd Roughead, Essendon’s Dyson Heppell, the Western Bulldogs’ Bob Murphy and Melbourne’s Daisy Pearce are among the high-profile players to sign the petition.
“It’s great to see players put their signature on the petition and hopefully our support can play some role in creating a more inclusive Australia,” said Heppell. “No matter who you are or who you love, we should all have equal rights to marriage.”
The AFL Players’ Association chief executive, Paul Marsh, said the union’s members wanted to generate greater awareness of the issue through their involvement in the campaign.
“The players stand for an inclusive community that doesn’t discriminate on any level, whether it be because of sexuality, race, gender or religion,” Marsh said. “We’re proud that so many players have put their name to this petition in the hope that their voices help build momentum for marriage equality.”
Marsh added that he was “embarrassed” to live in a country where people are “discriminated against for who they love”.
The AFLW boasts numerous openly gay players. The most high-profile, the inaugural season’s MVP, Erin Phillips, married Tracy Gahan in the US seven years ago. Penny Cula-Reid and Mia-Rae Clifford are engaged to be married; they played against each other when their respective clubs, Collingwood and Melbourne, met earlier this year.
“In footy clubs you get such a broad array of people walking through the door and they’re all equally valuable to the team so you get to value that diversity,” Pearce said.
The AFL launched a pride round last year to start a conversation about discrimination against LGBTI people. St Kilda players wore rainbow-coloured numbers on their guernseys while Sydney players sported rainbow socks and umpires waved rainbow flags.
But there is yet to be a single active male player to come out as homosexual.
