St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis said the Round 21 clash was set to be one of the world’s first Pride Games on a professional sporting level.
“This is a proud and important day for our football club and the AFL,” he said in a statement via the club’s website. “This belief stems from our bayside birthplace where the annual Pride March takes place. It’s a progressive, eclectic place where everyone is welcome.”
The Pride Game was been in the works for some years, and is hoped to make the LGBTIQ+ community feel welcome, safe and accepted at AFL games.
In a further show of support, Sydney players will wear rainbow socks while the 50-metre arch, match-day football and goal umpire flags will also be adorned in the rainbow colours.
The Pride Game comes in the wake of studies that revealed 87 percent of young gay Australians who play sport feel forced hide their sexuality, while 78 percent of participants believe an openly gay, lesbian or bi-sexual person would not be safe as a spectator.
#HowIWantToBe #PrideMatch pic.twitter.com/D8Lc5JCaTD
— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) July 20, 2016
Image: Malcolm Wallace, StKFC.
