opinion

Kate Emery: Manly players boycotting game over pride jersey should get on and do the job

Kate EmeryThe West Australian
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VideoManly goes into crisis mode as players revolt over pride jersey.

Who do the seven NRL players who baulked at wearing a rainbow jersey think they are?

Actually, we know who the seven Manly Sea Eagles players are: Josh Aloiai, Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Schuster, Haumole Olakau’atu, Tolutau Koula and Toafofoa Sipley.

Before this week I can’t pretend I could have picked them out of a line-up.

But they’ve sure shown their fans and the country who they are.

They have, if you’ll pardon a bad pun, shown their true colours. And, unlike the rainbow flag, the colours of which were chosen to stand for things like healing, spirit, life and harmony, it’s not a good look.

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The seven players have cited religious belief for their inability to stomach wearing a one-off shirt with a rainbow stripe on it.

Which religion, do you suppose, is absolutely fine with accepting gambling sponsorship — Manly’s shirts advertise Pointsbet in the kind of font you can see from the nosebleed section — but draws the line at implying that gay fans are welcome?

What is the religion, do you think, that sees no problem playing on grounds named after a brewery — their home ground is 4 Pines Park — but absolutely cannot bear the existence of LGBTQI people?

And please direct me towards the bit in whatever holy book they believe in that advocates choosing an expression of hate over an expression of love?

Camera IconSean Keppie, Kieran Foran and Reuben Garrick wear Manly's pride jersey but some players are unhappy. Credit: AAP

The Sea Eagles players are entitled to their religious and cultural beliefs and it sure sounds like the club’s marketing department would have been well advised to brief the players before they had to read about it in the media.

Having witnessed the expensive rugby union debacle that saw Wallabies player Israel Folau sacked for spewing homophobic filth online, they should have tried to bring the players along with the club rather than surprising them. This palaver was entirely foreseeable.

But the players are also paid a lot of money to wear the club uniform. That’s not woke authoritarianism: that’s a contract.

They are also held to certain standards that don’t always apply to those of us who aren’t professional sportspeople in the public eye.

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At times that means allowing sport to brush up against politics, such as when they play in the NRL Indigenous round — an event intended to highlight social issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Or, in this case, when they’re told to wear the “Everyone in League” rainbow jersey, which was intended to promote inclusivity.

Manly’s plan to wear the jersey this week will make it the first NRL team to do so, nearly three decades after club legend Ian Roberts became the first rugby league player to come out as gay in 1995.

Roberts, who was once attacked and called “f....t” by a supposed fan as he left the field at half-time, is “heartbroken” over this controversy.

“I try to see it from all perspectives but this breaks my heart,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“It’s sad and uncomfortable. As an older gay man this isn’t unfamiliar... I can promise you every young kid on the Northern Beaches who is dealing with their sexuality would have heard about this.”

Camera IconManley players have threatened to boycott an upcoming NRL match over a rainbow-themed pride jersey. Credit: Don Lindsay/The West Australian

Roberts’ last comment goes to the heart of the matter: that every young, LGBTQI NRL fan will be feeling about as welcome as a Balinese holidayer on an Aussie cattle farm right now.

Will those seven players ever have to sit down with the Sea Eagles’ gay fans and explain why they disapprove of them so much that they’re unwilling to do their job? Will the players ever be called on to tell the fans to their face why they’re not worthy of a modicum of respect?

Of course not, because that might mean confronting the very real harm that their actions can cause.

None of these seven players is being asked to consider having sex with a man themselves. They’re not being asked to officiate at a gay wedding. They’re not being accused of thoughtcrimes or told what to believe.

Camera IconSea Eagles coach Des Hasler has confirmed seven players will miss their clash with the Sydney Roosters and says introducing a rainbow jersey design should have been handled better. Credit: Matt King/Getty Images

They’re being asked to turn up and do their jobs. And this week, for one day, that job includes wearing a uniform with a symbol that recognises that LGBTQI people exist and that they’re as entitled to do so as anyone else.

Symbolic gestures, whether you’re talking about running onto a sporting field wearing some rainbow trim, putting gender neutral options on a medical form or flying the Aboriginal flag over Sydney Harbour Bridge, matter.

If symbolic gestures didn’t matter, those seven players wouldn’t be in this position. I wouldn’t have to be writing this article.

And some NRL fan who, until recently, probably thought the sun shone out of his team’s bum, and happens to fall somewhere on the LGBTQI spectrum wouldn’t be feeling a whole lot worse about themselves.

But they probably are.

Great job, guys. Very manly.

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