Most dedicated sports fans agree that governing bodies were right to support the marriage equality campaign, a survey has found.
The study by Monash University’s behavioural science laboratory and YouGov found 59% of those heavily engaged in sport (dubbed “superfans”) approved of sporting organisations’ involvement in the same-sex marriage survey debate – in which the AFL, NRL, ARU, FFA and Cricket Australia all came out in support of marriage equality.
The position of the sporting bodies during the campaign faced a chorus of public criticism, including from NRL Footy Show host Erin Nolan, her Melbourne AFL counterpart Sam Newman and News Corp journalists who persisted with the line that sport should stay out of politics.
In September Tony Abbott backed calls to ban Macklemore’s performance of the marriage equality anthem Same Love at the NRL grand final, tweeting: “Footy fans shouldn’t be subjected to a politicised grand final. Sport is sport!”
The survey revealed a much more positive view from fans, though they were divided along age lines: 71% of those between 18 and 35 agreed the sporting bodies’ move was “correct”, compared with only 56% of those between 35 and 54, and only 43% of those over 55.
However, even among those who said they “strongly disagreed” with marriage equality, 28% said they agreed the statements were important to ensure that “sporting organisations stay relevant with young people”. Overall, 62% of respondents agreed with that view.
The survey, of 1,003 respondents, also broke down the results by sporting code. Rugby union superfans were most in favour of their governing body backing marriage equality (74%), followed by football (71%), cricket (66%), rugby league (62%) and AFL (61%).
Perhaps the most surprising finding by the researchers was that Australian sporting organisations are world leaders in their approach to marriage equality. Lead researcher Erik Denison said his team had been unable to find any other examples of national sporting organisations advocating the legalisation of marriage equality. Some individual US sporting teams had done so, but none of the governing bodies.
Denison pointed out that Australian sporting organisations had led the way on LGBTI rights since 2014, when all five major governing bodies signed a commitment to eliminate homophobia in Australian sport ahead of the Bingham Cup (the world championship of gay and inclusive men and women’s rugby). In 2014-15, the five major codes also helped conduct the first international study on homophobia in sport. Subsequently, in 2016, Cricket Australia, the AFL, NRL, ARU and FFA joined forces to launch the Pride in Sport Index – a benchmarking instrument designed to assess inclusion of LGBTI people in Australian sport.
It was as a result of this history, Denison said, that fans had come to expect their codes to take a lead on political issues such as marriage equality.
“Over the last few years, Australian sporting organisations have become international leaders in efforts to tackle homophobia and make sporting culture more inclusive for LGBTI people,” he said in a statement.
“While many Australians might have been surprised to see the sports advocating for the rights of gay people to get married, this has become normal to their core fan base. This may explain why the core fans are supportive of the public stance taken by the sports”.
