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Important SN update for Southland"Sad" no AFL player feels safe enough to be openly gay
Emily Benammar • July 3rd, 2025 9:23 am
Adelaide champion and newly inducted AFL Hall Of Famer Erin Phillips said her heart breaks for any AFL player that does not feel secure or supported enough to be openly gay.
There is no openly gay or bisexual current player in the AFL or lower leagues, and while a handful have come out after their careers ended, Phillips longs for a world in which athletes can feel comfortable being themselves in the public eye.
Phillips, a prominent advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and inclusion in sports, has always been an open book with her wife Tracy when it comes to their relationship, but she hopes that one day ‘coming out' will no longer be something people have to consider.
“I realised the impact we were having for my teammates and opposition players, to be who we are in public,” Phillips said in a panel with Caroline Wilson. “We decided not to shy away from who we are. To show we’re normal.
“Looking at the AFL side of it and not having an openly gay male football player is sad more than anything.
“Maybe I shouldn’t assume but you expect there is at least one in the AFL.
“It breaks my heart that they don’t feel like it’s a safe space, or they don’t have the courage, confidence or support to come out and be who they are. It only takes one.
“I can’t wait for the day that there is no such thing as coming out.”
Phillips and her wife returned to Australia from the USA after she was signed as a rookie by the Adelaide Crows ahead of the inaugural AFLW season in 2017.
The pair remained open and honest about their relationship and went viral after sharing a kiss when Phillips won the 2017 AFLW Best and Fairest award. The moment caused such hype, the now 40-year-old still reflects with surprise about Australia’s reception to same-sex couples.
“For Tracy and I coming back (to Australia) - we had been in the USA where it was accepted - I didn’t realise how behind Australia was until we came back,” Phillips said.
“I was contacted by a journalist that wanted to write a story about me Tracey and the kids which I thought was weird. It was on the front cover of the paper - which was fine - but it was a moment I realised ‘this is new for Australia’.
“We didn’t have too many gay women to look up to. (I thought) we have two options; one not to talk about it and two to be the boring couple that we usually are. We weren’t going to hide who we were. We wanted to take our kids on the journey.
“My dad that morning went and turned every newspaper upside down so it’s the first thing people saw. It’s important to be honest.”
Now retired, Phillips and her wife live in South Australia with their four children.
Listen to the full episode of Don’t Shoot The Messenger with Caroline Wilson and Corrie Perkin from Thursday July 3.
