Improving Diversity, Equity & Inclusion In Sport – Lessons From Australia & UAE

Wednesday, 26 October 2022 Author: Erin Kidd, Habib Saeed, Steve Bainbridge

During Australia’s 2022 National Rugby League season, seven players from the Manly Sea Eagles, a team in the National Rugby League competition, refused to play in a jersey that featured rainbow trim. The design, called the “Everyone in League” kit, was intended to be worn by the team as a one-off to celebrate inclusivity, but it became known as a “pride jersey”, supporting the LGBTIQ+ community, due to the use of the rainbow palette. The seven players cited religious and cultural objections to wearing the jersey and, because the rules of the National Rugby League require all players in a team to wear a “distinctive” (seemingly interpreted as “identical”) jersey1, opted not to play the match in which the jersey was worn.

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Tags: Arbitration | Basketball | Basketball Arbitral Tribunal | Contract | Dispute Resolution | Employment

Written by

Erin Kidd

Erin Kidd is a Director in the Labour & Employment practice in Squire Patton Boggs' Sydney office. She is recognised for Labour and Employment Law in Best Lawyers in Australia 2023 (15th Edition) and is a finalist in the Special Counsel of the Year category in the Australian Women in Law Awards 2022.

Habib Saeed

Habib Saeed is a UK-qualified employment and data privacy lawyer at Squire Patton Boggs. He has five-plus years’ experience of dedicated employment law and data privacy law expertise gained across both the UK and the UAE, establishing himself quickly as a respected employment and data privacy law adviser in the regional legal market. Habib acts for multinational and regional companies in the Sports & Entertainment industry in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on all aspects of labour law, employment, immigration issues and data protection compliance.