United beaming with Pride

Written by Melbourne United Media

Melbourne United embraces the NBL’s Pride Round as it will promote, celebrate and give thanks to the LGBTQ community, while showcasing basketball as a sport striving to provide a safe, healthy and accessible environment for all.

Our purpose at Melbourne United is to use the power of basketball to enrich the lives of our community, and this includes a strong focus on inclusion, diversity and acceptance.

Melbourne United’s CEO Nick Truelson reflected on how proud the club is to support such a round.

“We are looking forward to supporting the Pride Round, as we believe representation and visibility matters, especially for our youth who need to know they are welcomed on the courts of the NBL,” Truelson said.

“What the last few days reinforces for us is the need for a Pride Round, and that more education and constructive discussion would help more people in our society understand why that is.”

Truelson also spoke of the club’s experience when supporting Isaac Humphries through his courageous announcement late last year.

“Our experience with what we went through as a club in support of Isaac and his announcement was incredible.”

“We were empowered through that experience and the love and support we received from the LGBTQ+ community was fantastic.”

Humphries recently spoke to ESPN and acknowledged both the challenges, but also the importance of championing acceptance, understanding and equality.

“My teammates are like family. Like family, I will always come from a place of love and acceptance.” Humphries said.

“So, when it comes to inclusion, I will always stand up and speak out when needed for my sport, for my community, and I’m disappointed for my LGBTQ+ family of athletes and coaches who live silently in the closet.”

“If we are going to move forward with true equality, equity and inclusion in sport for LGBTQ+ athletes, we have to start by getting honest. We have to acknowledge there is a problem. The obligation is on all of us, no matter where in the sport power matrix we live.”

“In the meantime, I will continue to encourage us all to come together, respect each other, lift each other up, and I will use my platform to give voice to the voiceless. Each of us needs to ask ourselves: what kind of courage did we display when our leadership moment arrived?”

Melbourne United’s Head Coach, Dean Vickerman, spoke to the media about the topic on Thursday.

"We're a club that stands strong in our beliefs and we stood strong behind Isaac,” Vickerman said.

“Now we go over (to New Zealand) and wear the logo very proudly and hopefully we represent the community and Isaac really well in the way that we go and play."

Melbourne United will proudly wear their Pride Uniforms when they face the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night at Spark Arena in Auckland. Fans can watch the must-win game at 5:30pm AEDT via ESPN and Kayo.