The Seven Have Agreed to Wear Pride Jersey Next Year (maybe?)

[HK_Eagle]

One tiny observation: Haumole put up vision of the young winger's try from last night with applause. To my knowledge, nothing club related from anyone else.

They were playing “Jesus is Real” online… if so-and-so scores in these circumstances it means Jesus is real and homos are heathens.

 

[Karshy]

To be fair to Penn, he didnt say they had backflipped. He said that they were open to discussing it. It was a politicians response that has been misquoted.

 

[Budgie]

‘They’ve let their team down’: Burgess lashes Manly Seven; backs Rudolf

Tom Burgess has backed good mate Toby Rudolf, who revealed his same-sex experiences in Friday’s Herald, while hitting out at the Manly players who sat out Thursday’s game over the pride jersey.

www.smh.com.au

 

[QueefRichards]

He is stepping up and explaining his decisions. Right or wrong, he’s explaining himself. Would you prefer he sticks his head in the sand and say nothing? That is much better than what we have had from the almighty magical mythical 7. I far from love the guy, but I’m much more upset by the 7 who won’t clarify or explain ****.

Well for one - That ship had sailed. Des and DCE already said what needed to be said, because Penn wasn't there to take responsibility for it when it blew up. So explaining his decisions is too little, too late.

It appears that his responses were misquoted but again this is just poor management, there should have been an agreement about what was going to be said in any press conferences afterwards, and a gag order imposed on the players.

 

[Karshy]

Well for one - That ship had sailed. Des and DCE already said what needed to be said, because Penn wasn't there to take responsibility for it when it blew up. So explaining his decisions is too little, too late.

And secondly - the contentious part isn't Penn explaining his decisions, it's him saying the players agreed to play in the jersey next year, which makes no sense anyway. Why would anyone say that they will change their mind on their beliefs next year?

He didnt say that, go watch the video. Danny Weidler is full of ****.

 

[Ryan]

Sack them all.

I want players who want to pull on the Manly jersey no matter what. I’d be happy to cop a year or two of development even if we lose most games just to see the back of these 7 Israel Folaus.

That guy disgusts me, and this lot are not far behind.

The only backflip should be Foran back to Manly next year.

NYEagle

Mate, I remember Nathan Hollingsworth was so desperate to play on the field (not many people know this), that he hid breaking a bone mid game to get back on the field to rip and tear. Different generation though. They may not have been as talented, but fmd they tried their guts out and spilled blood for us.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Well for one - That ship had sailed. Des and DCE already said what needed to be said, because Penn wasn't there to take responsibility for it when it blew up. So explaining his decisions is too little, too late.

And secondly - the contentious part isn't Penn explaining his decisions, it's him saying the players agreed to play in the jersey next year, which makes no sense anyway. Why would anyone say that they will change their mind on their beliefs next year?

But you wanna chastise Penn… I get it. I’m not impressed at all by him… but, where is the same condemnation for the magnificent 7? They have been completely silent through all of this. What kind of weird world do we live in when we let half our team sit out with no clarification or explanation?

 

[chuckee]

None of you think this is just PR spin from Penn to soften the media and public pressure?

Tell everyone that everyone agrees and is on board, then by the time next year rolls around there is no jersey and everyone is happy. He never confirmed there would be a jersey.

Seems you all took the bait. I told you all on page 2 this was the case.
Now stop being a bunch of snowflakes and get on with it. The 7 won’t be wearing the rainbow jersey, the club won’t be going back down that path, stop crying about it and get back to footy.

We’ve gone 75 years with being maroon and white, none of you ever had a problem with inclusivity in all that time.

 

[QueefRichards]

But you wanna chastise Penn… I get it. I’m not impressed at all by him… but, where is the same condemnation for the magnificent 7? They have been completely silent through all of this. What kind of weird world do we live in when we let half our team sit out with no clarification or explanation?

I've edited my post because again Weidler is being misleading here, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if he is outright lying here on someone contacting him.

However if you really want to know why none of the players are saying anything - it's because literally nothing good will come out of it.

 

[HK_Eagle]

“It killed us to watch our brethren play undermanned last night, knowing what was at stake. It was with heavy heart that we made our decision to sit out and it was a decision not taken lightly. We found it impossible to bridge the gap between our heart-felt beliefs, our respect of family and community and the push to wear a jersey that challenged this. We would like to apologise to our supporters, whom we know suffered greatly from this decision. We hope that you will come to understand our decision and we hope that we can work together in the future to minimise the differences…”

 

[NYEagle]

Seems you all took the bait. I told you all on page 2 this was the case.
Now stop being a bunch of snowflakes and get on with it. The 7 won’t be wearing the rainbow jersey, the club won’t be going back down that path, stop crying about it and get back to footy.

We’ve gone 75 years with being maroon and white, none of you ever had a problem with inclusivity in all that time.

Sing along with me. What a great song.

NYEagle

 

[Ryan]

But you wanna chastise Penn… I get it. I’m not impressed at all by him… but, where is the same condemnation for the magnificent 7? They have been completely silent through all of this. What kind of weird world do we live in when we let half our team sit out with no clarification or explanation?

Spot on mate. The whole thing is a bloody mess. I honestly think this may have come down to a lack of staff maybe? That, and a lack of taking ownership. People make mistakes - own them.

"Hello everyone. In the absence of a CEO, I made the decision to adorn our jerseys with rainbow stripes through one round to raise awareness for inclusivity for positive reasons. In hindsight, I made an error, because it appears this is not fitting with particular players religious beliefs. For that reason, and in consultation with the NRL, those players will be wearing our regular jersey this week, whilst others who elect to do so, will adorn the rainbows. I apologise to the players, their families and club for my error - which we have learnt from".

 

[chuckee]

“It killed us to watch our brethren play undermanned last night, knowing what was at stake. It was with heavy heart that we made our decision to sit out and it was a decision not taken lightly. We found it impossible to bridge the gap between our heart-felt beliefs, our respect of family and community and the push to wear a jersey that challenged this. We would like to apologise to our supporters, whom we know suffered greatly from this decision. We hope that you will come to understand our decision and we hope that we can work together in the future to minimise the differences…”

Blah blah, they’ll do their talking on the field next week and shut everyone up.
They don’t need to say anything. It’s actually smart for them to just be silent on the issue as the left will just come after them and twist whatever words they say.

 

[QueefRichards]

“It killed us to watch our brethren play undermanned last night, knowing what was at stake. It was with heavy heart that we made our decision to sit out and it was a decision not taken lightly. We found it impossible to bridge the gap between our heart-felt beliefs, our respect of family and community and the push to wear a jersey that challenged this. We would like to apologise to our supporters, whom we know suffered greatly from this decision. We hope that you will come to understand our decision and we hope that we can work together in the future to minimise the differences…”

I'll be honest it's easier picturing Josh Aloiai sitting down to chow down on some crayons than it is imagining him crafting a delicately worded email

But seriously, the best thing is that everyone just shuts up and lets it blow over while the club deals with it privately

 

[40 nil]

“It killed us to watch our brethren play undermanned last night, knowing what was at stake. It was with heavy heart that we made our decision to sit out and it was a decision not taken lightly. We found it impossible to bridge the gap between our heart-felt beliefs, our respect of family and community and the push to wear a jersey that challenged this. We would like to apologise to our supporters, whom we know suffered greatly from this decision. We hope that you will come to understand our decision and we hope that we can work together in the future to minimise the differences…”

Well written

 

[Stillman]

Everyone is selling these 7 players short. I reckon they have done a fantastic job promoting awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community and other marginalised groups. If they had worn the jumper and played last night then it's just another game of footy with a fancy jersey. Like we see 3 or 4 times every season. Ho Hum.

However by making a selfless stand on the issue they have given the inclusivity cause a massive amount of publicity this week. Not just within the game, this has transcended Rugby League, it has gone world wide. The level of debate and discussion across all forms of media and the community has been amazing. The topic has come up in all aspects of my life, family, work and social circles - not to mention the Silvetails forum. Absolutely fantastic outcome. There have been conversations had, eyes opened, minds changed, and different points of views accepted right across all walks of life. That doesn't happen if they just get on with it and play last night

We should applaud their efforts. They have done their families, culture and God proud. They have achieved exactly what the jersey set out to achieve. I doubt there are too many people who didn't have a conversation about inclusivity this week and that's a truly wonderful outcome. Thank you guys.

Beautiful perspective dude. Big up, that made my bloody day and I spent that day sitting in a gorgeous bubbling stream in the Slovenian Alps. Maybe you should put your Cv forward to the soon to be recruiting marketing department

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Well the 2023 rebuild is going to be interesting when we release Saab, Tuipolotu, Koula, Schuster, Olakauatu, Aloiai, Sipley and the unnamed reserves who also sat out.

Even though that list of names includes some of my favourite current Manly players, I'd be happy enough to see them go. I still can't get my head around the fact that they refused to pull on a Manly jersey and play for their teammates when they needed them the most. And the idea that we have a bloc of players who can hold the club to ransom doesn't sit well with me either.

 

[chuckee]

Even though that list of names includes some of my favourite current Manly players, I'd be happy enough to see them go. I still can't get my head around the fact that they refused to pull on a Manly jersey and play for their teammates when they needed them the most. And the idea that we have a bloc of players who can hold the club to ransom doesn't sit well with me either.

They’re not sell outs.
Why would you accept them just being a billboard for political agendas?

I’m sure their teammates are all a lot more understanding and accepting of them.

 

[Brooke]

Did Penn really need to make this statement the next day. He is a dope.

Definitely too soon. He should have waited for things to calm down.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Informative article here on the issue, overall quite critical of Manly's approach. The reasons for homophobic attitudes in mens sport, and what does and what doesn't work in changing those attitudes. Manly tried a well-meaning shortcut but without any serious thought to the issue. There is no reason religious players can't support pride games but there is a lengthy process to be undertaken.

Worth a look. I've learned some things from it!

"You also need to get captains and leadership groups involved. This must be led by the players. It can't be top-down. Pride games were invented to be player-driven initiatives, they're not meant to be dictated to players from above.
"It's about them having engagement with people who've experienced discrimination, who've been harmed by it, sharing statistics.
"That education piece is really critical. You have to lead with conversations first. That's the whole point of these games, to lead the conversation.

How Manly's jersey predicament taught sport an unintended lesson about inclusion

While their intentions were good, Manly's approach to celebrating inclusion focused more on optics than on changing culture, Samantha Lewis writes.

www.abc.net.au