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AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said that there are gay players in the AFL who are not coming out to avoid the 鈥減ressure of being the first鈥� to do so.

McLachlan spoke at a Leadership Matters lunch in Perth on Monday, comparing the AFLW to the AFL, reasoning that the numbers of out players in the women鈥檚 league was due to them having 鈥渟afety in numbers鈥�, reported The Age.听

There are currently no men鈥檚 players in the AFL who have come out to the public as gay.听

Ian Roberts was the first and only NRL player to be openly gay. Additionally, former Newcastle Jets player Andy Brennan became Australia鈥檚 first professional male footballer to come out as gay while still active in his career and A-League player Josh Cavallo came out as gay in October 2021, after 鈥�.听

Gay AFL Players Are Out To Teammates

McLachlan said that he was 鈥渧ery comfortable鈥� to know that there were gay male players and that they were 鈥渒nown to their teammates鈥澛�

He explained that the gay male players who were out to their teammates were choosing 鈥渘ot to be the first person鈥� because of the 鈥減ressure and weight鈥� that would follow the first AFL player who comes out to play as an 鈥渙ut gay man鈥�.听

鈥淭hat weight, frankly I can understand why they would choose not to have to carry that burden around forever,鈥� McLachlan said.听

Pride rounds are yet to be introduced in AFL聽

AFLW Pride Round

While the AFLW鈥檚 pride round was introduced in 2021 and has been welcomed by many, the AFL does not have one. There is an annual pride game between St Kilda and Sydney鈥檚 men鈥檚 teams, but there are no plans in place to introduce a Pride round across the league yet.听

Swans AFLW general manager Kate Mahony recently spoke about how both the women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 programs at clubs were accepting environments.

Mahony told Fox News that one of the main goals for the AFL was to ensure that they were creating an environment where people felt comfortable enough to be themselves.听

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a really diverse group of young women in our program and I鈥檓 really proud of that鈥�, she said.听

AFL Pride Round

In February this year, Tanya Hosch, AFL鈥檚 general manager of social policy and inclusion, said all 18 clubs had embraced pride round in the AFLW.听

鈥淭here are a number of themed rounds in the men鈥檚 competition, such as [the] Sir Doug Nicholls [Indigenous] Round and Anzac Appeal Round, which promote really important national conversations and causes,鈥� said Hosch.

鈥淲e鈥檙e committed to the themed rounds we have across AFL and AFLW but that doesn鈥檛 mean a pride round in AFL won鈥檛 be considered in the future,鈥� she added.听