Surrey Park Football Club is proudly participating in the Rainbow Round of Sport for its Round 1 home match against Kilsyth this weekend.
All Surrey Park players and club officials will lace up for the love of sport wearing rainbow laces to raise awareness of homophobia in sport.
The Rainbow Round of Sport is an initiative between the AFL, NRL, ARU, FFA, Netball Australia, SKINS, and Pride in Diversity.
It aims to develop a safe and inclusive environment for players, volunteers, coaches and spectators to participate and engage in sport regardless of their sexuality or gender identity.
The first international study on homophobia in sport titled Out on the Fields was conducted in 2015 and highlighted just how widespread homophobia is in sport.
Over 3,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and straight Australians took part and key findings were:
80% of participants witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport (both straight and LGB)
70% believe youth teams (under 22 years of age) are not safe or welcoming for LGB people
73% of gay men surveyed felt that homophobia is more common in team sports than other parts of society
75% of Australians believe that an openly LGB person would not be very safe as a spectator at a sporting event
Prejudice is still a problem in sport – and that’s unacceptable. Discrimination is robbing us of talent on the field and hurting fans off it.
Surrey Park Football Club president Bernard Tanner is proud the Panthers are on board with the initiative.
“At Surrey Park, we’re embracing this program that helps people to be more aware of social inclusiveness,” Tanner said.
“We are proud to be a community leader in supporting people who identify as LGBTI and welcome everyone to our club.”
