True Blues Millie Elliott, Ian Roberts and Craig Wing will lead the festivities for NSWRL\u2019s Inclusion Gala Day at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday 22 March to cap off the \u201cGame For All\u201d Round to be held that weekend (Saturday 21-Sunday 22 March).<\/p>\n
Inclusion Gala Day is celebrating its fourth year and brings together people of all abilities, genders and cultural backgrounds to showcase the different formats of Rugby League.<\/p>\n
The organisations and programs that will be represented at Inclusion Gala Day include What Ability, Game Changers, Physical Disability Rugby League, Heritage Rugby League and Try Time.<\/p>\n
Elliott, who has played eight games for the Westpac NSW Blues Women, has been a longtime champion for inclusion, culminating with her establishing the Game Changers program in 2022 which provides inclusion and accessibility workshops to people with a disability.<\/p>\n
Roberts, who represented NSW on nine occasions, became the first high profile Rugby League player to come out to the public as gay.<\/p>\n
Wing, who played 12 games for the Blues, had a decorated Rugby League career and is of Filipino descent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInclusion is not an add on, it\u2019s central to how we grow and strengthen our game,\u201d NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Inclusion Gala Day reflects our commitment to creating environments where people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds feel they belong, not just on the field, but within our broader community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is designed to remove barriers and invite people to experience Rugby League in a way that feels welcoming, accessible, and fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy showcasing inclusive formats of the game and creating opportunities to get involved, the Gala Day highlights how Rugby League can be a positive connector across cultures, communities, and identities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cGame for All\u201d Round is held towards the end of an important month for inclusion and diversity which includes:
– \u00a0 \u00a0Sydney Mardi Gras Festival (13 February \u2013 1 March), a world-renowned festival celebrating LGBTQ+ pride, diversity, and activism
– \u00a0 \u00a0International Women\u2019s Day (Sunday 8 March), celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women
– \u00a0 \u00a0Harmony Week (Monday 16 \u2013 Sunday 22 March) and Harmony Day (Saturday 21 March), which celebrates the diversity of Australians from different backgrounds
– \u00a0 \u00a0Close the Gap Day (Thursday 19 March), which focuses on health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
– \u00a0 \u00a0International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Saturday 21 March), dedicated to raising awareness of racial discrimination, its impact and taking action to eliminate racism from our community
– \u00a0 \u00a0World Down Syndrome Day (Saturday 21 March), to raise awareness about Down Syndrome<\/p>\n
NSWRL\u2019s Inclusion Day will be attended by more than 120 participants with plenty of fun activations on the day including a Goal-Kicking Challenge, Pass the Ball Competitions, Kicking Darts, an Agility Course, face painting and colouring in.<\/p>\n
The day will also include exhibition League Tag games for the NSW Physical Disability Rugby League Association, and local Try Time clubs for children, adults and teenagers with special needs and intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n
The day will open with a Welcome to Country from a First Nations Elder and a smoking ceremony, with each participant to receive a NSWRL showbag with a football, fidget spinner and wristband, and an Athlete Food Pack.<\/p>\n
All participants who take part in Inclusion Day will also be given tickets to the NRL match between Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Newcastle Knights at Accor Stadium on Saturday 28 March.<\/p>\n
NSWRL is\u00a0 a leading advocate for inclusion, developing several initiatives or achieving significant milestones including:
– \u00a0 \u00a0awarded Gold Tier Status at the 2025 Pride in Sports Awards, highlighting the organisation\u2019s commitment to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion in the sport and wider community
– \u00a0 \u00a0creating the Women in Sport Leadership program, which supports and upskills women in coaching, administration, and management roles with almost 80 graduates since 2021 across various sports
– \u00a0 \u00a0working with Heritage Rugby League to run the Harmony 9s tournament, which is a celebration of culture and Rugby League attended by 19 heritage clubs and more than 1300 players in 2025\u00a0
– \u00a0 \u00a0supporting the inclusion of Physical Disability Rugby League and Wheelchair Rugby League in the annual Country v City representative matches<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"True Blues Millie Elliott, Ian Roberts and Craig Wing will lead the festivities for NSWRL\u2019s Inclusion Gala Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-543397","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\/543397","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=543397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}