Rugby league-Manly players to boycott NRL match over pride jersey

Players from Australia's Manly Sea Eagles are planning to boycott a National Rugby League match over the Sydney club's decision to have the team wear an "inclusiveness" jersey.

Players from Australia's Manly Sea Eagles are planning to boycott a National Rugby League match over the Sydney club's decision to have the team wear an "inclusiveness" jersey. The Sea Eagles announced on Monday the team would wear the jerseys which feature rainbow stripes for their home match against Sydney Roosters at Brookvale Oval on Thursday.

Australian media reported seven players were opposed to wearing the jerseys on "religious and cultural" grounds and had elected to pull out of the Roosters game. Sea Eagles owner and Chairman Scott Penn confirmed the players' were put off by the jersey but said the team would wear it anyway.

"We're not going to force them to play, but we're committed to the jersey and we're committed to inclusion," Penn told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We're not walking away from our position. And we respect their beliefs.

"It's just disappointing we're here. We don't want those players to be outcasts, but as a club we celebrate and support everyone." Manly are ninth on the NRL ladder on equal points with the eighth-placed Roosters with six rounds left in the regular season.

The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs. NRL Chairman Peter V'landys said the NRL respected the players' position but hoped they would change their minds.

"It doesn't matter who you are, we are treated equally," he said. "We're not going to back away from that, but at the same time we respect the players' position."

Former Manly great Ian Roberts, the first professional rugby league player to come out as gay, said the players' opposition to the jersey was "sad and uncomfortable." "I can promise you every young kid on the northern beaches (of Sydney) who is dealing with their sexuality would have heard about this."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)