The Carlton Football Club has unveiled the 2023 Pride guernsey, designed by the Carlton Pride group in collaboration with the Club.
Pride Round is about promoting inclusion and respect, accepting one another and being proud of who you are. The Round also encourages allies to show their support for the LGBTQIA+ community through growing knowledge and awareness.
The inclusive guernsey carefully intertwines the Intersex and Non-Binary colours and all the flags of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The individual ‘ropes’ on the guernsey featured, incorporate colours of each flag, which then come together and form into the overall pride flag. It is a representation of coming together as one.
The 2023 season marks five years since the Club launched the Pride game against the Western Bulldogs and the second consecutive season Carlton has played at IKON Park.
Carlton Pride has been the official LGBTQIA+ supporter group of the Blues since 2017 and exists to provide a safe and inclusive environment for the community, while welcoming all LGBTQIA+ people and allies.
The Blues will wear the guernsey next Sunday afternoon against St Kilda at IKON Park in the last round of the 2023 home-and-away season.
Carlton CEO Brian Cook said the Club was privileged to continue to drive the message of inclusivity and respect during Pride Round.
“The Pride guernsey and Round opens up a lot of conversations and enables us to use our platform to share and educate our community to understand the experiences of others,” Cook said.
“Carlton prides itself on being a United club. We are delighted to wear a guernsey that is representative of all members of LGBTQIA+ community and our long-standing association with the round, dating back to the inaugural game against the Bulldogs in 2018, is something we do not take for granted.
“We really enjoyed working with our Pride Group in creating this guernsey and cannot wait to see our AFLW team run out in it against the Saints in a week’s time.”
Following the Pride match against St Kilda, the Carlton Football Club will be auctioning off the player-worn guernseys with proceeds going to Carlton Pride and Minus 18.
