Melbourne Victory was pleased to facilitate its fourth annual education series conducted by Pride Cup for both its A-League Men’s and Women’s players, along with coaching and administrative staff at AAMI Park on Thursday.
The sessions, conducted ahead of Saturday’s Pride Cup fixtures away to Adelaide United, were led by former New Zealand international footballer Hannah Wilkinson and Alex Watson.
Each session was curated to strengthen the understanding of Pride Cup’s work for players and staff through lived experiences and to enable allies and advocates for the LGBTIQ+ community to learn how to best support their peers. Understanding first-hand the discrimination faced by people in the Pride community and giving the Club support on how to open meaningful inclusivity conversations is important to living our vision to lead, unite, connect and inspire through football.
Learnings included tips on how to create safer and more welcoming environments, how to make change through education, and how we can adopt and implement practical strategies which will, in turn, help the Club to continue to build an inclusive environment while supporting player and fan wellbeing for those in the Pride community.
While in the past we have focused on the visible elements of celebrating a Pride Cup, either through bespoke kits or rainbow-coloured names and numbers, after consultation with Pride Cup and other members of both the Pride community and the broader Melbourne Victory fan base, we believe these visual elements on our kit have failed to positively influence the Pride conversation. These have kept the focus on what our teams are or are not wearing, rather than the commitment we have to our players, fans, members and stakeholders to create change.
That means, this season, our strong focus is on reinforcing our commitment to internal education, storytelling, and community engagement year-round, and both Victory senior teams will wear an unmodified 2025/26 season kit, with each Captain sporting a PFA-supported Pride armband.
While our kits will remain unchanged, the Club is, of course, supportive of individual athlete choice and expression in a way that provides personalised support for the Pride community.
