L’initiative of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club is to be welcomed. But the reaction of some of its players, it creates a stir. According to the BBC, on Tuesday July 26, seven players from the north-east Sydney-based club decided to boycott a key match altogether to allow the team to qualify for the National Rugby League final. The reason ? The authorities of the club have decided to modify the jersey of the team to promote the LGBT cause, while the facts of homophobia remain very numerous in the sports sector, at the world level. However, the rugby players would not have been consulted on this decision, say the players concerned. They invoke religious and cultural reasons to explain their boycott.
Quickly rumored by the local media, this boycott aroused indignation in Australia. However, the team’s coach, Des Hasler, has absolutely not condemned the attitude of his players. During a press conference, he spoke of a “significant mistake” made by the club. In this case, that of not having associated the players with this decision. According to him, this management caused “confusion, discomfort and pain for many people, especially the groups whose rights we were actually trying to support”.
A terrible news on the sporting level also
And this, before apologizing to the LGBT community… but also to the players involved. “They weren’t included in any of the discussions, and at the very least they should have been consulted,” he said on Tuesday, July 26. In a statement, club officials apologized “for the handling of the situation”, reports the BBC.
From a sporting point of view, this boycott is terrible news. Indeed, according to the rules enacted by the Australian National Rugby League, it is impossible for players of the same team to wear a different jersey. However, with seven refractories, the team is in very bad shape to tackle a match, scheduled for Thursday, crucial to allow the club to reach the final of the League.
“What infuriates me is that players will boycott a rainbow, but will never boycott a teammate if they have been accused of violence against women or any other morally wrong behavior that those same players would be all agreed not to tolerate,” sports journalist Pam Whaley wrote on Twitter. On social networks, many Internet users have denounced the attitude of the players.
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Homosexuality, a taboo in Australian sport
Faced with this boycott, the former figure of the club Ian Roberts spoke. At Daily Telegraph Sydney, he said he was “sad” saying the players’ decision “broke his heart”. A reaction all the more understandable as he was the very first player in the Australian league to announce his homosexuality. ” Can’t you understand the pain inflicted on homosexuals who, no matter what they do, are not respected simply because they are homosexual? he wrote in a column published by another Australian newspaper.
In 2021, an Australian soccer player, Haneen Zreika, also refused to wear a rainbow jersey. At the time, she cited religious reasons, such as for the seven Manly players. Even today, homosexuality is a taboo in Australian sport. According to Ian Roberts and other observers, homophobia is still prevalent both on the side of supporters and athletes. Thus, in 2019, the rugby player Israel Folau was dismissed by the Australian federation. He had posted several anti-gay messages on social networks between 2015 and 2019. Subsequently, threatened with legal action, the Federation apologized to the player.
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