We hosted our latest Members Round Table event yesterday on the question of LGBTQ+ and where we are in relation to sport and the inclusion of this community.
It is clear there is an issue with only two professional male rugby players feeling comfortable to come out as a gay man, one professional footballer across the two islands of Britain and Ireland and no current male inter-county players.
It is a statistical likelihood of almost zero that this could be the case so sport is obviously not yet as comfortable and open a space as we might somehow feel.
It is not on individuals to put themselves up as role models but there needs to be consideration given to how we can make things better.
Yesterday’s wide ranging discussion with advocates in the space, sporting bodies including Sport Ireland, and businesses that have stepped forward with their own support focused on three key areas of allyship, education and the inclusion of messages around language and inclusion as part of general training for club coaches and volunteers on the same basis as safeguarding.
We will now be considering the numerous different strands to emerage as workable advances so that we can work collectively to make things better one step at a time.
Sport for Business Partners
