Anglesea to honour Pride

THE Anglesea women’s football team will add a splash of colour to their jumpers this weekend as they celebrate the second annual Pride Cup.

This Saturday, July 24, the Kangaroos will host North Geelong at Ellimatta Reserve for the match which will unite both clubs in continuing to evolve sporting culture to make LGBTI+ people feel safe, welcome, and accepted on and off the sporting field.

“We are really excited to be bringing the Pride Cup back to Anglesea this year,” Anglesea women’s football team manager Jenn Lingham said.

“As a club we believe it is super important to educate our community on the Pride Cup concept and the importance of accepting everybody for who they are.

“It will certainly be a great celebration and acknowledgement of all our amazing women in football who identify as LGBTI+.”

To mark the Pride Cup match, Anglesea will wear special pride jumpers as designed by senior women’s player Rachel Joseph.

Joseph said she was immensely proud to have the honour of designing the jumper concept.

“In terms of designing the jumper for the match we wanted to keep the integrity of the normal Anglesea jumper but then be able to pop the pride colours in to represent all people in the LGBTI+ community,” Joseph said.

“It makes me very proud that we will be running out to celebrate pride during the match and the girls and I are all super excited to run through the banner with North Geelong to unite for inclusion and acceptance in sport.”

Pride Cup Australia acting chief executive officer Kara Monteneri expressed her gratitude and excitement that Anglesea were once again on board to support the pride match.

“We are so thrilled about the return of Anglesea’s Pride Cup event,” Monteneri said.

“It’s so important to have clubs like Anglesea making bold declarations of inclusion and acceptance in their club environments.

“The Greater Geelong area is leading the way in making sport safer and more inclusive for LGBTI+ people, with teams across multiple sporting codes including AFL, cricket and Hockey all holding Pride Cup events this year.”

The Pride Cup aims to educate clubs on LGBTI+ inclusion in sport and the crucial role that it plays in developing understanding of just how important it is that everyone is able to participate safely as their authentic selves.

It is hoped the event will become an annual celebration for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Pride Cup match starts at 12:15pm at Ellimatta Reserve, Anglesea.