This Friday night, the Sydney Swans will celebrate their 10th annual Pride Game.

Celebrating the idea that ‘everyone is welcome at the footy’, this week’s game is part of a now decade-long tradition. Decked out in their rainbow guernseys, the Swans will take on the Western Bulldogs at the SCG. And at half time, there’ll be a special performance from alt-pop duo, Cat & Calmell.

Earlier this week, the club welcomed fans, players, managers and more to kick off their pride activities with a special launch event. There, James Rowbottom, who plays as #8 for the Swans, spoke of the ongoing importance of Pride Game.

“It’s massive,” he said. “It’s our 10th year this year, and I really think it’s quite minimal effort from a playing point of view to wear a rainbow jersey and come to events like this and to see the impact that it can have on on the community. It’d be remiss of us not to do things like this, so I think it’s really important. We’ll obviously continue to do it for a long time.”

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The history of Pride Game

Back in 2015, the Swans played their first Pride Game in a pre-season exhibition match against Fremantle at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney. The following year, they brought Pride Game to the main fixture, joining forces with St Kilda to play the inaugural in-season Pride Game in round 21 of the 2016 season at Melbourne’s Etihad (now Marvel) Stadium.

Ever since, it’s been a highlight on the Swans’ calendar.

Until this year, it’s traditionally been held with St Kilda — but this year marks a change. In May, the Swans announced they were removing St Kilda from the Pride Game in the fallout of the Lance Collard Tribunal case earlier in the year.

Collard was found guilty of directing a homophobic slur towards an opponent and sentenced to a seven-game ban, making it his second offence of using a homophobic slur. After St Kilda appealed, the penalty was dropped to two weeks, with another two weeks suspended. The fallout continued when appeal board chair Will Houghton KC was sacked for commenting during Collard’s final verdict that racist, sexist and homophobic language was “commonplace” in AFL.

As a result, the Swans announced they were cutting ties with St Kilda for the Pride Game, and moved it to round 17 against the Western Bulldogs.

“In consultation with the Rainbow Swans, members of the LGBTIQA+ community and the St Kilda Football Club, we felt it was appropriate to shift our 2026 Pride Match to ensure the game has the positive impact that is intended. It is important that the focus is on the positive experience we are creating for the communities at the heart of Pride Game,” the Swans announced at the time.

“We stand with the LGBTIQA+ community and believe that sport has the power to bring people together and celebrate inclusivity. That’s why Pride Game matters.”

‘This one’s really special’

Heading into the 2026 Pride Game, Swans fans are as eager as ever. Sarina Jackson, chair of the Rainbow Swans — the official LGBTQIA+ supporter group of the Swans founded in 2003 — told the club that “this one’s really special”.

“This one feels really honest, and I can’t wait. What a great club. Everybody’s welcome. We know that, but it’s true, we actually are,” she said at the Pride Game launch event. “We’ve got members of the Rainbow Swans, we’ve got staff, we’ve got sponsors, we’ve got players, and everyone is here celebrating our community and the inclusivity … and that’s just awesome.”

Shane Pascoe, a longtime Swans supporter who moonlights as his drag persona Joyce Maynge, is a fixture at Pride Games and in the Swans’ Mardi Gras parade float.

“I’ve been a supporter for a very long time, but now for having the Pride [Game], it’s really, really special that they’re going that extra distance,” he told Sydney Swans Media ahead of Friday’s game.

He also reflected on the trailblazers of sporting inclusion — the AFLW, who have held a league-wide Pride Round since 2021.

“I would say that queer women have been leading the way in AFLW for such a long time,” he said. “I think more lessons need to be taken from the women, and you can see — has anything changed, has it hindered or made things worse? No, it hasn’t. It’s been completely fine. No-one bats an eye because they just move on and play fantastic football. So, boys, I think it’s time to take a leaf. But again, that comes from structural change as well and making some decisions to say, you know what? Let’s all get on board.”

Pascoe hopes that Pride Round serves its purpose of showing all footy fans that there’s a place for them in the game.

“If there’s any young person out there who wanted to know whether the footy was for them, I would say, look into the stands. I would say look onto the pitch,” he said. “I would say, make sure that you do not feel small. This is a massive stadium, and look at all these amazing rainbows flying around, and all these smiling faces, and I can tell you now that there is a massive place for you at the Bloods family.”

You can buy tickets for Friday’s Pride Game here.

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