The Pride Game is a start, but the AFL Has a Long Way to Go in Embracing the LGBTI Community

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Australia.

Tomorrow night, the St Kilda Saints will don rainbow guernsey while their opponents, the Sydney Swans, will pull up rainbow coloured socks.

The match will be Round 21's 'pride game,' a show of support for Australia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex community. On the face it, it looks like a bold, proactive initiative by the AFL to embrace players from a part of Australia that has long been neglected by footy. But there's a strong feeling that the AFL still has a long way to go before it truly accepts the LGBTI community.

Jason Ball was the first openly gay footballer who came out while playing for Yarra Glen Football Club in 2012.

The 28-year-old activist has led the way promoting equality in the game for several years. He was invited to share his story with St Kilda Football Club, has appeared on Fox Footy's 360 television show and has instigated gay pride games in the Yarra Ranges League.

"The AFL still has a while to go," Ball tells VICE Sports AUNZ.

"Some clubs get it better than others, but the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) are really good. They're very much interested in the well-being of the players - they have been one of the leaders in this space.

Part of St Kilda's build-up campaign to the Pride Game. Credit: YouTube.

"The AFL's excuse for not doing more in this area seems to be that they can't walk and chew gum. They say we are busy dealing with a drug scandal, or rolling out the women's league, or doing stuff with multicultural communities."

"The truth is they have people in the diversity unit in the AFL who are dedicated to reaching out to indigenous communities and supporting the women's league. But the AFL refuses to have a designated resource to focus on this particular area."

It's hard to ignore the precedence of the potential revenue a women's league will bring the AFL has anything to do with their passive activity for supporting the LGBTI community in footy.

Although the AFL has been supportive of St Kilda's push for a pride game and of Essendon setting up the Purple Bombers LGBTI support group, they are from pioneers in ridding homophobia from the sport.

Speaking on behalf of the AFL, Mark Evans, the league's football operations manager, is confident they have reached a level where a homosexual player would feel comfortable coming out.

"We've got the greatest game in the world, the only indigenous game to Australia, and we want to make a statement that everybody is welcome in our game," Evans says.

"It ultimately has to be their decision. When a player or players are ready to do that, then so are we."

Angie Greene, founder of Stand Up Events, a non-profit organisation promoting equality in sports, doesn't believe the AFL is being pro-active enough.

"In my experience the AFL as a governing body has done very little," he says.

"Since starting this journey, I have realised if any change is going to happen it will be from the players and the clubs."

A handful of Stand Up Events ambassadors including former Carlton skipper Chris Judd, Essendon's Brendon Goddard and Richmond's Trent Cotchin, have strongly supported educational programs in sports.

Greene believes the players themselves are ready to embrace an openly gay AFL player: "the players that I have personally connected with, want to make it clear that if a gay player was to come out it would be not only a non issue, but they would be embraced."

The AFL's presence on racism in footy is staunch. There's a zero tolerance approach. The same attitude should take place to exile homophobia in the game."When it comes to racism and a person's sexual orientation, the difference is you can't hide your skin colour," Greene says.

There are a lot of attitudes in the crowds that are negative and they will take time to come around. But as Ball suggests it is up to the AFL and clubs to take leadership.

"They haven't done anything themselves, they haven't come up with any of their own ideas and they haven't lead any of this change," Ball says. "And that has to be the next step."