The woke Australian Football League has established a new DEI-style committee dedicated to helping “LGBTIQA+”, indigenous, and “culturally diverse” players.
The AFL announced the creation of the Equality, Inclusion and Safety (EIS) Advisory Committee on Wednesday, and said it would meet on a quarterly basis and focus on homosexual, aboriginal and non-Australian AFL and AFLW players in its first year.
The committee will “engage with players to understand their experiences, particularly regarding the risk of discrimination” towards the three “priority focus groups”, and then provide guidance back to the AFL, the players association, and individual clubs.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, who is also trying to expand the game into India to make it more “culturally diverse”, implied there were more far-left initiatives to come.
“Our game has come so far, particularly across the past decade but there remains significant work to be done,” he said.
“In terms of industry collaboration, the EIS Committee is the first of its kind. At its core, its establishment will drive discussion and the sharing of experiences in order to make our game more inclusive and safe for our players.
“Whether it be within clubs, on match days, within online environments, or post-career, every player has the right to feel safe.”
AFL Players Association CEO James Gallagher said the committee would “improve the football environment for everyone”, and claimed it was supported by players.
“The industry must collaborate proactively to address the experiences in our game, and provide meaningful solutions that progress the equality, inclusion and safety of AFLW and AFL players,” he said.
“This committee will address issues the players care deeply about. We look forward to the direction it can provide to everyone across the elite level of our game.”
The league has also launched other multicultural and left-wing initiatives in recent years, including the establishment of an Islamic AFL academy, a now-annual LGBT Pride Round involving the Sydney Swans, the creation of the women’s AFL league (AFLW) in 2017, featuring drag queens, and performing “welcome to country” ceremonies before games.
The announcement came as the Swans dropped St Kilda from its Pride game for appealing indigenous player Lance Collard’s suspension for allegedly using a “homophobic slur”, which Collard denies.
Header image: A Sydney Swans Pride Round game (AFL).
