Usually they put their bodies on the line to stop goals, but now some of Australia’s most formidable keepers have joined forces to drive one home.
Two legendary past and one current Kookaburra goalie donned traditional body armour and picked up sticks in a symbolic show of support for sexual and gender diversity in sport.
Triple Olympian Lachlan Dreher and gold medallist Stephen Mowlam joined the Kookaburra’s rising star George Bazeley and 11 other hockey goalies for an historic photo to celebrate this year’s Fair Go, Sport! Round.
Essendon, Camberwell, Waverley, Footscray, Mentone, TEM (Toorak East Malvern) Altona, Greensborough and MCC hockey club keepers all stepped into the goal mouth to take a stand.
The event was the brainchild of Gus Johnston, the long-time Victorian champion goalkeeper who has become a prominent anti-homophobia ambassador since he publicly outed himself as gay via a compelling YouTube video in 2011.
“An open invitation was sent out to past and present goalkeepers within Victoria to make a stand to say we are all for inclusion in sport and we want to keep homophobia out of hockey,” Johnston said.
“There’s something fun, heroic and playful about the idea of goal keepers with all their armour and helmets playing that defensive role within sport.”
Hockey Australia has been at the forefront of the Fair Go, Sport! campaign since it began as a pilot project with the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission in 2010.
“Hockey has been an absolute trailblazer,” Johnston said, adding the leadership shown by the sport’s governing body was a catalyst for his own coming out.
Fair Go, Sport! has since been adopted by several other sporting codes which will see plenty of rainbow socks running onto fields, courts and tracks all over Melbourne this weekend.
Goalkeepers who took part included: Alana Butler – Greensborough, Peter Wroblweski – Footscray, Taylor Brennan – Altona, George Bazeley – Camberwell, Ben Hooppell – Camberwell, Gus Johnston – Essendon, Pat Sanders – MCC, Jed Snowden – Essendon, Stephanie Morgan – TEM, Stephen Mowlam OAM – Past Waverley & TEM, Andrew Beck – Essendon, Tom Scott – Waverley, Lachlan Dreher – Camberwell and Matt DeFina – Powerhouse / StKilda.
www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/index.php/fair-go-sport-home
