I'm really keen to hear a bit about what you're doing in the corporate world before you transition into sport and where sort of your head and motivation is right at that point in time.

Yeah.

So as I mentioned earlier, I started my career in agency.

So I came, when I came out of university, I, like everyone, you sort of struggle to find a job.

And I applied for a job at a media agency purely because my friend was working there as a lawyer.

And I was very naive and was like, oh yeah, it says media assistant.

I just done my PR degree.

So what is this accreditation from? And can you tell us a bit about the event?

Well, Haley, as CEO, maybe you could explain for the listeners who have never heard about Pride Cup before how it all began.

I would love to.

So Pride Cup began in a, um, little country town in Victoria, a place called Yarra Glen.

Um, and it was the, uh, I guess brainchild or our, our idea of, um, the football netball club out there, um, also called Yarra Glen, the Yarra Glen Football Netball Club River Pigs.

Um, fantastic, like, beautiful iconic ground out in the Yarra Valley.

Um, and the founder of Pride Cup had played at that club since he was about eight years old.

Uh, and his parents are both deeply involved in the club, like, on the local committee.

And so apart from the actual, um, the game, the Pride Cup that you play, what could you explain to the listeners about the educational sessions that you run with the clubs?

What does that look like to you?

I think to us, that really looks like, um, you know, the kinds of celebrations that Pride games create, and, um, those Pride games themselves are not just about, um, again, celebrating or welcoming the LGBTIQ community.

But the evidence for them, um, peer-reviewed, published, um, and undertaken by Monash University was that actually playing in a Pride game reduces incidences of homophobia by 40 to 50%, um, and that clubs that participate also see reductions, um, in sexist, um, language and banter and those sorts of things.

Because what we're doing is giving people a value to stand up for that they agree about.

So that combination of inclusion education, so actually saying to players, um, administrators, volunteers, you know, referees, um, that if you have a set of values that are about inclusion, belonging, being your best, trying your hardest, um, then you uphold those values by making sure that you have an environment that welcomes and includes everyone, but that also teaches and holds each other accountable.

So not where we say, "Go away, you've done the wrong thing," but we say, "Hey, that's not how we behave here."We can change that behavior together and, and that that is what people do and that matters for LGBTIQ people, but it also matters when you talk about racism, and sexism, and all of the other, um, I guess like cultural, uh, identity-based, um, opposition that we have traditionally had in sport.

What kind of conversations are you, you having with people where you sort of see that light bulb moment?

So it's, it's a combination of some of the statistics.

What does that look like to you?

I think to us that really looks like, um, you know, the kinds of celebrations that Pride games create and, um, those Pride games themselves are not just about, um, again, celebrating or welcoming the LGBTIQ community, but the evidence for them, um, peer-reviewed, published, um, and undertaken by Monash University was that actually playing in a Pride game reduces incidences of homophobia by 40 to 50%.

Um, and that clubs that participate also see reductions, um, in sexist, um, language and banter and those sorts of things because what we're doing is giving people a value to stand up for that they agree about.

So that combination of inclusion education, so actually saying to players, um, administrators, volunteers, you know, referees, um, that if you have a set of values that are about inclusion, belonging, being your best, trying your hardest, um, then you uphold those values by making sure that you have an environment that welcomes and includes everyone, but that also teaches and holds each other accountable.

So not where we say, "Go away, you've done the wrong thing," but we say, "Hey, that's not how we behave here.

We can change that behavior together," and, and that that is what people do and that matters for LGBTIQ people, but it also matters when you talk about racism and sexism and all of the other, um, I guess like cultural, uh, identity-based, um, opposition that we have traditionally had in sport.

What kind of conversations are you, you having with people where you sort of see that light bulb moment?

So it's, it's a combination of some of the statistics.