Melbourne: This Saturday (18 May), the 10th Anniversary Yarra Valley Pride Cup will take place at Yarra Glen Recreation Reserve. The Yarra Valley Pride Cup is Australia’s first PrideGame event, and the inspiration behind the AFLM PrideGame event between the Saints and Swans.

The day will feature a netball match at 11.20am, followed by the Pride Cup match between Yarra Glen and Healesville at 2.20pm, creating a full day of LGBTIQ+ celebration in sport.

Pride Cup CEO, Hayley Conway (she/her), says “We are proud to mark a decade of LGBTIQ+ inclusion and iconic celebration in sport, with this milestone 10th anniversary of the Yarra Valley Pride Cup

“Communities like Yarra Glen are leading the way. Every sport club can learn something from them”, she concluded.

The 10th anniversary of the original Pride Cup comes at a significant moment. Recent incidents of homophobic language in sport, and continued bans of trans women by global sport governing bodies highlight the need for evidence-based education, advocacy, and celebration of LGBTIQ+ players.

“I came out in the hope that it would drive cultural change within the AFL so that more players and athletes and officials can feel comfortable to be themselves in that environment,” says Jason Ball (he/him), Pride Cup co-founder.

“When I was a kid growing up, the football club felt like the one place I would never be able to be myself. It’s hard to describe the feeling of liberation all those years ago, standing side by side with my teammates in our rainbow jumpers for the first time, standing against homophobia and sending a powerful message that sport should be everyone’s game. I’m so incredibly proud of the Yarra Glen community for keeping this tradition alive for 10 years. Yarra Glen planted a seed that has grown into a nationwide movement for change, and the impact has been felt far beyond the sporting field” concluded J Ball.

David Ball, Yarra Glen Football Netball Club Treasurer and Jason’s dad, states “The Yarra Glen Football Netball Club is so proud to have started the Pride Cup 10 years ago. The 10 year celebration has proven that small country club’s can make a difference, we feel everyone feels safe and welcome at Yarra Glen. The community support has been overwhelming, joining us in the say no to homophobia message.”

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About Pride Cup:
Pride Cup is the home of Australia’s first-ever PrideGame event promoting LGBTIQ+ inclusion in sport, we provide LGBTIQ+ inclusion education and support to host iconic rainbow-themed game days to sport clubs across Australia. Since launching in 2018, Pride Cup has worked with over 830 clubs across 25 different sport codes. Pride Cup’s unique model has been evaluated by Monash University and VicHealth, finding that Pride Cup clubs are 40-50% less likely to use homophobic language than non-Pride Cup clubs.