Yarra Glen takes out another Pride Cup

Yarra Glen were successful in putting their name on the winners lists for another pride cup after beating Powelltown by 21 points over the weekend.

The River Pigs were in control for the majority of the match to claim the trophy in its seventh appearance since its inauguration in 2014.

Callum Morison and Ben Ashton shared five goals between them while Jayden Schille, Cameron Tait, Nicholas Mckenzie and Sam Horsley all starred as their best players.

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On the netball court, despite engaging in a tough fight and being in the contest, the girls went down to the Demons by just four points.

Georgia Taylor, Nicole Moate and Lara Wandin-Collins scored the goals while Katelyn Vanderkolk, Ellie Estcourt and Kayla Toomer were named as the best players for the River Pigs.

Reflecting on the Pride Cup, Treasurer David Ball was pleased with his club’s efforts over the weekend and was happy with its success.

“It’s a Yarra Glen creation and we like it when we win it,” Ball said.

“We also compete in A grade netball for a Pride Cup, but unfortunately our girls went down in a close match.”

The AFL Players Association’s ‘Say No to Homophobia’ campaign, in addition to Ball’s son Jason coming out to his teammates in 2012, was the catalyst behind the creation of the Pride Cup, when the club wanted to do something with Jason to help stamp out homophobia and homophobic language in sport.

He came up with the idea to host a Pride Cup, with the 50 metre arcs and playing guernsey’s painted in rainbow colours and a Pride Medal awarded to the best players across the senior football and A grade netball games.

The Yarra Glen community are proud leaders in the LGBT space, which speaks to a strong culture at the River Pigs that is inclusive and welcoming for everyone.

They were the recipient of the ‘Building health through sport’ award from Vichealth where they were commended for the creation of the Pride Cup which has been promoted throughout Victoria, the LGBT community, the AFL and into other sports where pride cups are now contested.

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Ball is thrilled of the work which his club has undertaken with regard to its standing in the LBGT group.

“We are enormously proud to be leaders in the LBGT space and the community has taken this on too,” Ball explained.

“I think we’ll continue doing what we’re doing in terms of the Pride Cup and undertaking activations regarding homophobia as it’s a continual education that needs to be done.

“Each year, we’ve tried to play a different team in order to spread the message and the objective of having a pride cup is to get to the stage where we don’t need to have one.”