To the Tweed Coast Tigers Football Club and Northern Rivers AFL community,

It is with great sadness that I watch the current debate in the AFL around Izak Rakine’s “homophobic slur” degenerate into a conversation about whether he was provoked, or missing final’s games mean more than other games. The impact of these words, made by multiple AFL men’s players have a far bigger impact on our AFL community, and how we can possibly make gay footballers safe. This is not about Izak, it’s about what we are willing to tolerate as a community. It is telling that there has never been an openly gay male footballer.

I want to write this letter on behalf of the Tweed Coast Tigers board to be clear about the following points;

- Any form of discrimination, based on faith, culture, race, gender or sexual identity will not be tolerated by our football club, and should not be tolerated by our game.

- All people are welcome to be part of our club, as fans, members, players or officials.

- Homophobia is a blight on our game, and we make a commitment to our club having a zero tolerance to this.

- To all Gay, Bi, Same Sex Attracted and Allies, we see you. We understand that while you might not feel safe to disclose this to the football community, we see you and make our commitment to doing what we need to, to make our environment safe.
We encourage the wider AFL community to say enough is enough, and all work together to make our game welcoming to all.

Thank you,

Sam Hickingbotham
Inclusion and Wellbeing Officer
Tweed Coast Tigers Board