Cricket Australia pledges support for marriage equality, says cricket is for all

Cricket Australia have pledged its support for same-sex marriage, and joined more than 1600 organisations in signing open letter for a boost to Australian Marriage Equality. CA chief executive James Sunderland had earlier said that the decision was taken keeping in mind of CA’s stand, which says sport for all Australia.

Apart from cricket, other sports verticles have also committed to the pledge. The official Twitter handle of Cricket Australia tweeted “Cricket is a sport for all Australians, and we support marriage equality.”

Pledging their support

“Cricket must be a welcoming environment for each and every one of us, regardless of gender, cultural heritage and – importantly in the current environment – sexuality,” Sutherland said.

“That holds true whether you are pulling on pads for the first time in community cricket, representing your country, volunteering your time or working for a cricket organisation.

“In 2014, we joined other leading sporting codes to announce our support of the Bingham Cup charter, which seeks to end homophobia in sport and ensure that all sports have inclusive and anti-discriminatory policies.

“There is still progress to be made across sport, and while cricket can always be doing more to support the LGBTI community, we hope that supporting marriage equality will send a strong message to the cricket community across Australia that we are a Sport For All.”

Day-Night on the cards

There were talks recently regarding a day-night Test match at the new Perth stadium, according to Sutherland.“The new Perth Stadium, when it comes on board … won’t have many of the effects of shadows on the ground that you would otherwise have at the WACA,” Sutherland told cricket.com.au. “So there is actually possibilities there of shifting that one into later evening, even just starting it an hour or two later. “That’s a possibility, but we haven’t thought about anything different for Melbourne and Sydney.” he added.