Australian Rugby Team May Boycott Upcoming Match After The Team Announces It'll Be Wearing Pride Jerseys

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Several players for Manly, an Australian rugby team, are considering boycotting the team's upcoming match after they announced they'll be wearing gay pride jerseys against the Sydney Roosters.

Manly shared the news that it would be wearing pride jerseys via Instagram on Sunday. The jersey will feature rainbow stripes instead of the team's traditional white stripes. Manly will become the first club in National Rugby League history to wear an LGBTQIA jersey.

According to ABC Australia, some players are unhappy with the decision and claimed to have only heard about the jerseys when the team announced them on social media. This has caused unrest among certain players, some of which are considering boycotting Thursday night's match against Sydney.

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a total of seven players have already decided not to play in the upcoming match.

The Instagram post announcing the news has received over 4,000 likes and almost 1,000 comments since it was shared less than 24 hours ago.












Paul Kent, a well-known TV host that covers the National Rugby League, slammed Manly's decision to announce the pride jerseys without consulting every player. He labeled it a "marketing decision" while explaining that the team "should be embarrassed" for the way it's handled the situation.

"Because of their own cultural and religious beliefs they have an issue with it and it’s to be dealt with and has to be dealt with fairly quickly," Kent explained.

“The Manly club did this without any consultation of the players, they did it without board approval, it didn’t get raised at board level. It’s basically a marketing decision and they just assumed that everything was ok.”

Sydney and Manly sit eighth and ninth, respectively, in the National Rugby League standings.







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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.