THE CARLTON Football Club will once again proudly pull up its orange socks for what is set to be a historic Carlton Respects match against St Kilda on Saturday night.
With the game taking place at Ikon Park, it will be the first time the two clubs face each other in the AFLW competition.
The ‘Pull Your Socks Up’ campaign encourages all ‘Bluebaggers to wear a touch of orange- the international colour of harmony- with your Navy Blue to show your support on game-day.
A significant Club initiative that aims to raise awareness about the prevention of violence against women, Carlton Respects is the Club’s flagship community program that seeks to educate students about respect and equality.
The Carlton Respects program sees the Club conduct education of awareness-raising programs in schools and workplaces across Victoria to help the prevention of violence against women.
The program has reached 7,500 students in Victoria, 13 workplaces and runs two campaigns each year since being established in 2016.
On average, police are called out to a domestic violence incident every two minutes.
That’s 50 reports during an AFLW game and 125 reports during an AFL game.
Carlton Respects is supported by Our Watch, an organisation that has been established to drive nationwide change in the culture, behaviours and power imbalances that lead to violence against women and their children.
Carlton star forward Tayla Harris has recently been unveiled as an Our Watch ambassador.
Saturday’s match against the Saints marks the seventh Carlton Respects game in the Club’s history.
The match also marks the second year in which MC Labour have been the major partner of the Carlton Respects game, in addition to being the co-major partner of the Game Changers.
Carlton CEO Cain Liddle said the Club was proud to continue its involvement in building the program alongside Our Watch.
“Our Club is proud to have Carlton Respects and Our Watch work alongside each other to promote gender equality for the prevention of violence against women,” Liddle said.
“As a Club, we remain committed to becoming the most influential gender equality program in Australian sport our Carlton Respects game significantly helps in achieving this and we encourage all our members and supporters to come along to Ikon Park and support this important initiative.”
“To be playing our seventh game in support of this cause is an honour for our Club.
“We feel very fortunate to have a platform to be able to initiate change and raise awareness about this important societal issue.”
The Carlton Respects game, which is proudly presented by MC Labour, commences at 7.10pm AEDT this Saturday at Ikon Park.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
