AFL Icons Leigh Ryswyk And Mitch Brown Call Out Booing Following Anti-Gay Slur
Two of the AFL’s most visible LGBTQIA+ voices have condemned the crowd that booed Collingwood’s Isaac Quaynor. Leigh Ryswyk, the first current or former Australian Football League (AFL) player to come out publicly as gay, had asked fans to keep it respectful before Thursday night’s game in Adelaide. They did the opposite, jeering the player who was targeted by a homophobic slur last year.
Mitch Brown, the first openly bisexual AFL player, put the responsibility higher up. “Leaders set the culture. They set the standards,” Brown said on ABC’s News Breakfast. “This is a cultural thing that we need to get better.”
Why Ryswyk Thinks It Happened
So why single out the man who copped the gay slur? Ryswyk has a theory. He called the scenes “very disappointing to see and hear,” and told DNA the booing had “nothing to do with racism or someone’s sexuality.” It was about blame. “I believe that Isaac was booed because the Crows fans believe by him calling out the homophobic slur, their star player was suspended, in turn costing them their chance at playing in a grand final,” he said. “They believe it’s Isaac’s fault when really they should be looking at Izak’s actions as inappropriate and disrespectful.”
In round 23 last season, Crows midfielder Izak Rankine aimed a homophobic slur at Quaynor. He served a four-game ban and apologised, and by the league’s own count he was the sixth listed player suspended for an on-field homophobic slur in 16 months. Collingwood won Thursday’s rematch by 34 points, but the jeering drew the loudest response. Coach Craig McRae was baffled, Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers called it “not good enough,” and AFL boss Andrew Dillon said it was “not what we want to see in our game.”
One Adelaide supporter, in a message aired on News Breakfast, wrote: “How do I keep my passion and love for a game when I don’t feel accepted? … After tonight, I feel so numb.”
Ryswyk knows that feeling, and it is why he speaks up. A single game for the Brisbane Lions in 2005 was the whole of his top-flight career, but since coming out on JOY 94.9’s GayFL in March he has become a steady voice for the game. This week North Melbourne became the first AFL club to invite him to run an inclusion session. “If I can help one kid, that’s why I did it,” he said.
