Gay Aussie rugby team to play as part of professional match

Australia’s first gay Rugby Union team will make history this weekend when they become the first gay rugby team in the world to play as part of a professional rugby match.

The team, the Sydney Convicts, will play a “curtain-raiser” game against Macquarie University this Sunday (July 6) before the day’s main match at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, in which Australia’s NSW Waratahs square up to New Zealand’s Highlanders.

On the day, the Allianz Stadium will mark the historic occasion by airing a 30-second anti-homophobia TV advert featuring a host of well-known athletes including soccer stars Harry Kewell and Alessandro Del Piero.

David Whitaker, President of the Sydney Convicts, said in a press statement:

“The Sydney Convicts are very excited and proud to be the first gay and inclusive rugby team to be invited to play as part of a professional sporting match. Often discrimination and homophobia is based on stereotypes that gay people are somehow weak and they can’t play tough sports like rugby. We hope this game helps to challenge these misconceptions while also raising awareness that homophobia in sport is still a major issue and gay people often still feel unwelcome.”

The historic match is the latest initiative from the organisers of the Bingham Cup Sydney 2014, which takes place down under next month (August) and bills itself as “the world cup of gay and inclusive rugby”.

The organisers recently launched an international study on homophobia in sport called Out on the Fields, with the help of some of rugby’s biggest stars – find out more about the study here.

Check out some of the Sydney Convicts team members below.

Rugby star Nick Phipps, who plays for the NSW Waratahs and the Australian national team, is a big supporter of the Bingham Cup 2014 Sydney and said of Sunday’s historic rugby match featuring the Sydney Convicts:

“Sport is such a beautiful thing and in this day and age, there should be no discrimination at all. After getting to know some of the boys who play for the Sydney Convicts, they’re really good fellas and we want to help them as much as we can. Hopefully the fans also get behind the boys and show their full support, to end discrimination in sport and raise awareness about the Convicts as a team and what they stand for.”

Check out Phipps with one of the Convicts team members below – and then scroll down for a bonus shirtless snap of Phipps.