Parents told kids must wear pride T-shirts or risk missing out on Melbourne Victory game
The parents of six-year-old soccer players have been told their kids must wear pride T-shirts to take part in an A-League halftime game.
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Junior soccer players will be barred from participating in a Melbourne Victory halftime kids game if they don’t wear pride T-shirts.
Parents of six and seven-year-olds have been told their children will not be able to take to the pitch during Melbourne Victory’s small-sided football match at the Pride Cup on February 26 if they do not agree to their kids wearing LGBTQI+ pride T-shirts.
The coach of one junior team invited to participate in the event received registration forms from Melbourne Victory this week which outlined the requirement.
“Please note that Melbourne Victory will be celebrating Pride Cup at this fixture. As such, participants playing half time small sided games will be wearing a specially designed pride T-shirt during the game,” the registration form read.
“By continuing with this registration form you agree to your child wearing the MVFC pride T-shirt.”
One shocked parent said while he backed the A-League’s Pride Cup, children should be “kept out of social and cultural matters”.
“It’s deeply disturbing that the Melbourne Victory is forcing 6 year old children to be moving billboards,” he said.
“While I personally agree with the concept of pride and the safety of all LGBTQI+ persons to participate in sport, primary aged schoolchildren are not the correct avenue to express these sentiments.”
Melbourne Victory on Wednesday, however, denied children were being forced to wear the T-shirts, telling the Herald Sun families that were not comfortable could participate on an alternative day.
“The Club has not forced any of its players, staff, fans or junior participants to wear or participate in anything they are not comfortable with,” a spokesman said.
“This game is a celebration of LGBTI+ participation in sport and we have put processes in place to ensure those who are not comfortable to participate in the day as a whole, will have the option to participate in another match day they feel comfortable participating in.”
The Pride Cup first kicked off in 2022 after Adelaide’s Josh Cavallo became the men’s competition’s only openly gay player.
Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory players, who will face off on the day, will wear rainbow shirt numbers and armbands as a display of support for the LGBTQI+ community in football.
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Originally published as Parents told kids must wear pride T-shirts or risk missing out on Melbourne Victory game
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