The Manly pride jersey player boycott took place in July 2022, after seven players for the Australian

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

club

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

announced they would refuse to participate in an upcoming match based upon the team's decision to wear

LGBT pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility o ...

themed jerseys in the 28 July match. The players received both criticism and support for the boycott.

Boycott

In July 2022 seven players from the Australian

club

refused to wear a

pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

jersey and chose to boycott the club's match against the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

on 28 July. The club had decided to use the jersey as a means of supporting diversity and inclusivity in the NRL, but did not inform the players prior to unveiling it before the media. The seven players – Josh Aloiai, Toafofoa Sipley, Tolutau Koula,

Christian Tuipulotu Christian Tuipulotu (born 18 February 2001) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the Sydney Roosters and Manly Warringah ...

Haumole Olakau'atu Haumole Olakau'atu (born 1 October 1998) is a Tonga national rugby league team, Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). Background Olakau'atu wa ...

Jason Saab Jason Saab (born 8 October 2000) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. Considered one of the best wingers in the NRL, he is known for his lightn ...

and

Josh Schuster Josh Schuster (born 5 May 2001) is a international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward or for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL. Background Schuster was born in Sydney, Australia to Australian parents of Samoan and German des ...

– cited "cultural and religious" reasons for doing so. Manly lost the game against the Roosters 20 – 10, while the seven players did not attend the match due to security concerns.

Reactions

Public reaction to the boycott was mixed. Some fans praised the players for standing up for their beliefs, while others labeled them bigoted and hypocritical. The players received support from religious leaders. Manly coach

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League and a former player. Primarily a , he initially played for the Penrith Pan ...

apologised to the players for the club's failure to consult with them, and noted that the players were "strong in their beliefs and convictions." It was reported by NRL broadcaster Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports that a young Sea Eagles player who is a

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

homosexual was devastated by the decision of the seven players: "This move by the players has shocked him. He thought they would accept him for who he is if he ever decided to make his sexual preferences public - clearly that is not the case." Radio personality and former NRL "enforcer"

Mark Geyer Mark Bradley Geyer () (born 7 December 1967) is an Australian radio host and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative ...

said that the players were hypocritical, because their club's sponsor Pointsbet promotes gambling, and that they were insulting former Sea Eagles great Ian Roberts, the only Australian professional rugby league player to come out as gay. Roberts himself said, "I fully respect those players who are choosing not to play, and their right not to play, with their religious beliefs." Six of the seven players were of

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

heritage. Guy Rundle, writing for

Crikey Crikey is an Australian online news outlet founded in 1999. It consists of a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. History Crikey was founded by the activist shareholder Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of the ...

, argued that the reactions to the players included "implicit and explicit condescending racism". The boycott had a negative effect on the Sea Eagles'

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Simon Brunsdon, writing for

Nine's Wide World of Sports ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...

, notes that Manly "were destined to play finals, though, until the round 19 rainbow jersey fiasco, after which the club did not win an NRL game." This led to the Hasler's sacking as coach.

References

{{2022 in rugby league 2022 in LGBTQ history Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 2022 NRL season LGBTQ pride Rugby league controversies Boycotts LGBTQ in Australia Anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Oceania LGBTQ-related controversies in sports