AILISH CONSIDINE BELIEVES that the AFL Women\u2019s league has become one of the standard-bearers for inclusiveness for LGBTI+ athletes.<\/p>\n
But the Adelaide Crows star feels that male sports across the world have a lot of work still to do when it comes to an open culture around sexuality.<\/p>\n
Clare\u2019s Considine made history in her debut AFLW in 2019, winning the Premiership title with the Crows and becoming the first Irishwoman to do so.<\/p>\n
And her experience in the league to date has been of a culture which celebrates inclusiveness as highlighted by the introduction of a Pride Round this season which saw several teams wear specially-designed guernseys and many players wear rainbow socks and laces.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the exception if you\u2019re not gay in AFLW because so many of the girls are part of that community,\u201d Considine explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so open. It\u2019s so respectful. It\u2019s so normal to be gay over there. Out of the 30 girls on the team, I think 22 are gay.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds: \u201cIt\u2019s so accepting. Having a whole round dedicated to LGBTI+ is just incredible. They\u2019ve really pushed to make it a normal thing and make it really acceptable to be yourself and not to have to hide who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considine is an ambassador for Aviva Ireland\u2019s #LaceUpWithPride campaign which invites Irish players to wear rainbow laces in support of the LGBTI+ community.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Australians are generally quite more open and honest about things and upfront of things,\u201d she says. \u201cI think in Ireland we can be a bit more reserved and a bit quieter in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have come from a very remote, isolated west Clare village where the norm is boy meets girl. They get married in a few years time and that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her older sister and ally Eimear, an Irish rugby international and Munster player, likewise sees the acceptance of the LGBTI+ community within Irish sporting circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very lucky that I play a sport where inclusion is so key and so many of my friends are in the community. It\u2019s just normal and I think it\u2019s normalising is the key thing,\u201d Eimear says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSportspeople are in such a good position to be role models and ambassadors and make other people outside of our sporting community aware that it\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd at the end of the day, once you put on your jersey and step onto the field, you know, you all have one common goal. And I think that\u2019s the key. Doesn\u2019t matter who you are, where you come from, you\u2019re accepted no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back on her own experience, Ailish has never felt the need to make a statement about her sexuality, though she often mentions her partner and their relationship in the course of interviews and other media work.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to make a big deal about, you know, you being different,\u201d Ailish says. \u201cIt\u2019s just part of who you are.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [Eimear] nailed it in the head. We were just chatting about the whole campaign and stuff, and she was like, \u2018Well, I never had to come home and tell my mother that I\u2019m not gay or that I\u2019m hetero\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe never had to have that conversation with our family, so she was like, \u2018Well, why do you have to have it with ours as well?\u2019 That you have to come out and say that you\u2019re gay. It\u2019s no different. It doesn\u2019t change who you are. So I think that\u2019s something that has always been kind of part of me.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t want to make a big deal of it because, you know, it should be far more normalised at this stage in our lives. So I think while it\u2019s a conversation that probably has to be had with family and friends, [and] I think overall in the media, I just want to normalise it as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
While acceptance is the norm in many female sports, Considine feels that there is more work to be done in the men\u2019s games. As it stands, there are no openly gay players in the AFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AFLW have a really powerful stance on that and have had from the get-go. I think just having a pride round really cements that in their ethos and in their game. But it\u2019s not as open on the men\u2019s side of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think society makes it a little bit easier for females to come out as gay in some shape or form. I\u2019m not sure why that is because it\u2019s all the same. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that it\u2019s not talked about, or that it\u2019s not an issue. It is definitely something that needs to be worked on in every sport. The campaigns are just more open and honest with the female side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
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