Sydney Swans' LGBTQIA+ supporter group the Rainbow Swans have called for a meeting with the AFL and St Kilda Football Club after the events of Saints player Lance Collard's recent appeal and reduced suspension for allegedly using a homophobic slur.
Sydney and St Kilda are due to play in their annual Pride Game at the SCG in early June, but chair of the Rainbow Swans Sarina Jackson shared the group's disappointment in the handling of the Collard situation.
"We request a meeting with the AFL and the St Kilda Football Club to table our disappointment and to discuss the work that is required ahead of our planned Pride Game on Sunday June 7," Jackson said in a statement released on Saturday.
"To state that, “It is commonplace that players can employ language from time to time which is racist, sexist or homophobic while on the field” is hurtful to many in our community and not congruent with the work many people have done within the AFL industry.
"When clubs respond by appealing consequences rather than reinforcing accountability, it undermines years of work to make sport and footy more inclusive.
"This is about recognising that repeat behaviour requires stronger responses. Accountability is a necessary part of change.
"As a participating club in the AFL's Pride Game, St Kilda Football Club has publicly positioned itself as a supporter of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in sport. That visibility carries responsibility. Actions taken in moments like this are not separate from that commitment — they are a direct reflection of it."
Chair of the AFL Appeals Board William Houghton KC was sacked on Saturday for his involvement in the board's reasoning to reduce Collard's suspension.
