Rugby is for everyone \u2014 and the Falcons are living proof. <\/p>\n
In the NZR+<\/a> special feature, Gay & Inclusive Rugby: The NZ Falcons, viewers are invited behind the scenes as Aotearoa\u2019s pioneering gay and inclusive rugby club hosts and competes in the Purchas Cup, an Australasian tournament celebrating diversity and inclusion in the sport.<\/p>\n Named after LGBTQ advocate Andrew Purchas, the event brings together teams from across Australia and New Zealand, united by a shared belief that rugby should be a place where everyone can belong. \u201cInclusive rugby is about rugby for everyone,\u201d says Purchas Cup Co-Chair Jonah Tan. \u201cWhatever ethnicity you are, whatever gender, whatever orientation \u2014 rugby is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n New Zealand Rugby\u2019s Head of Culture, Inclusion & Safeguarding, Judy O\u2019Brien, believes there\u2019s a lot to be learned from the Falcons. \u201cAs an inclusive team the Falcons have smashed stereotypes by welcoming players of all kinds, including straight men, who just enjoy playing rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n For Falcons president Tom Reed, the club provides something deeper than competition: \u201cInclusive rugby is creating an environment where anybody can show up as their true selves.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the eyes of players, coaches, and supporters, the mini documentary captures the Falcons\u2019 passion, pride, and wh\u0101nau spirit \u2014 showing how sport can empower people to be themselves, both on and off the field.<\/p>\n Watch \u201cGay & Inclusive Rugby: The NZ Falcons\u201d from Friday 24 October, 6pm on NZR+<\/a> and the All Blacks YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rugby is for everyone \u2014 and the Falcons are living proof. In the NZR+ special feature, Gay &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-235633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}