A handful of Canberra’s many and varied sporting codes gathered today to celebrate diversity and promote inclusivity in their sport. The second sports festival to be held as part of Canberra’s annual pride festival Spring Out, invited anyone onto the field, regardless of age, gender or ability.
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00:00The Rainbow Sox were pulled up high as players took to the field in the Spring-Out Sports
00:07Festival, celebrating diversity and inclusivity.
00:10I love getting dressed up for these type of events, like I always have to be, you know,
00:15the shiniest person, just like shouting on the sidelines basically.
00:20Run by ACT Veterans Rugby, the event began last year as a rugby union pride round, but
00:25has grown much bigger.
00:27Players hope it'll become a permanent feature of Canberra's annual pride festival.
00:32There's queer people in every part of society, and it's good to acknowledge that it's a safe
00:36place for people to come and play sport.
00:37I think sport's a good way to get people involved and be a part of a community.
00:43It's a lot of, you know, just people out there that just need this safe space to get into
00:47something like this, to find out they love it, and so the more of this sort of stuff
00:50we can do, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if it's a small kid or old man.
00:55Perhaps in that same spirit, vets' rugby rules are modified so everyone can take part,
01:00regardless of age.
01:01And once you get to 60, you can wear red shorts, which means you have to be gently tackled,
01:06and once you get to over 70, like me, you can't be tackled, but you can't go more than
01:1110 metres.
01:12That didn't mean a less intense game, with a few players left slightly worse for wear,
01:17while others sought a reprieve from the heat.
01:19This year, the event had also expanded to include games from codes like gridiron, touch
01:24and soccer.
01:25It's really great, especially for American football, especially with the women's, there's
01:29so many LGBTQ people that play, so it's really great to represent.
01:35Trying to show there's a place in sport for everyone.