THE ANNUAL AFLW Carlton Respects game will take place this Sunday at IKON Park when the Blues host the Crows.

For the fifth consecutive season, the orange socks will return for the Game Changers, in the distinct symbol of the Club’s Carlton Respects initiative: promoting gender equality for the prevention of violence against women.

The inaugural Carlton Respects Walk for Respect and Equality will also take place prior to Sunday's game, allowing fans to come together and show their support for the cause.

Participants will walk from the front of the Carlton Football Club around Princes Park to Gate 4, where they will then be able to enter the ground to watch the annual Carlton Respects game. 

The first 200 registrations will also receive a free ticket into the AFLW Carlton Respects game, with thanks to the City of Melbourne. Fans are encouraged to join us on this special occasion and are able to register for the Walk for Respect and Equality by clicking here: due to COVID protocols, registrations are essential.

The first AFLW Carlton Respects match took place in the Game Changers’ second season of 2018, 18 months after the first AFL Carlton Respects game took place on the MCG against the West Coast Eagles.

Both AFL and AFLW teams at Carlton wear orange socks each year for the annual Carlton Respects games.

Launched in 2016, the Carlton Respects initiative is synonymous with the colour orange - the international colour of harmony - and was launched in response to the alarming statistics around family violence in the community.

Some of the devastating statistics are as follows:

  • 43 women in Australia were murdered by a current or former partner in 2021
  • Every nine days, a woman is killed by a current or former partner
  • One in two women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15
  • One in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15
  • One in five women have experienced sexual assault since the age of 15
  • 23 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment at work in the last 12 months
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Kinnersly: Our role to play in Carlton Respects

Carlton Board Member and Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly spoke to the AFL playing group about how we can all contribute to stopping violence against women.

Since its inception back in 2016, the Carlton Respects program - through its awareness raising, school programs and workplace charter - has worked extensively in promoting gender equality, with gender inequality considered to be the most significant factor in leading to domestic violence.

If you or someone you know is impacted by family violence or sexual assault, contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au. Counsellors are available 24/7 for phone and web chat. In an emergency, call 000.

Disrespect grows louder surrounded by silence.