By PETER ARGENT<\/p>\n
The Barossa\u2019s first Pride Cup game has been built on the courage of evergreen footballer Leigh Ryswyk\u2019s strength of character.<\/p>\n
In March this year, the Barossa District star chose to make his sexual orientation public, becoming the first openly gay AFL player, past or present.<\/p>\n
Originally from Victoria, Ryswyk moved to Queensland when he was in his youth at the age of six.<\/p>\n
Landing on an AFL rookie list in 2004, he was added to the Brisbane Lions\u2019 senior squad for the 2005 season.<\/p>\n
He made in his AFL debut in a 39-point win for the Lions in Round 11 against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in Perth.<\/p>\n
Delisted from the Lions at the end of that injury plagued 2005 season, Ryswyk moved to South Australia where he played 226 matches for North Adelaide in the SANFL.<\/p>\n
He then moved to the Barossa, Light ad Gawler (BLG) competition, and now in his 40s, Ryswyk continues to be one of the most durable players in SA country football.<\/p>\n
In 2019, he was co-captain of the Central Zone title winning team at the SA Country Championships, where he shared the player of the tournament, and in 2022 he shared the BLG leading goal kicker award with his Bulldogs\u2019 team mate at the time, Darren Shillabeer.<\/p>\n
He explained that it was not right time for him to come out during his AFL career, adding \u201cwhile AFL clubs and the AFL community would largely be supportive of queer players, crowd behaviour could be a factor in why many did not feel comfortable being openly gay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notably, the Brisbane Lions and North Adelaide Football Clubs both released statements of support following Ryswyk\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
To celebrate this diversity in sport, the First Pride Cup match in BLG history will be played this Saturday, when Ryswyk\u2019s club, the Barossa District Bulldogs play the Tanunda Magpies, at the Lyndoch Oval Barossa Park Precinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pride Cup will be played across A-grade, B-grade and the Women\u2019s game,\u201d Ryswyk explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, as a part of the day, we had an inclusive education session at the club, which the Pride Cup facilitated and was well received by the whole group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason for the day is to show that our football club is for everyone \u2013 players, support staff, administrator, fans, and the general public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis also shows the inclusive culture at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is for others to see that this club has role models and footy is for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still a need to drive the culture and provide education around the LGBTQIA+ community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about throwing it in people\u2019s faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a whole of football club commitment to the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be great at some point if we had an \u201cInclusive Round\u201d which includes diversity of all races, religion, and sexual preference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis about seeing community change, bringing more people to footy, and making a positive impact for the betterment of all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryswyk confirmed there will be \u201cBest on Ground \u2013 Pride Medal\u201d for each of the three games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By PETER ARGENT The Barossa\u2019s first Pride Cup game has been built on the courage of evergreen footballer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-770652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770652","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=770652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}