The NRL first entered a float eight years ago because Paul Langmack, who was working for the NSW Rugby League, was passionate about the idea and got others on board.

In time, he stepped back and the NRL took control, following the lead of other major codes in promoting “inclusivity”. Tick a box, in other words.

On Saturday night, more than 200 floats made their way up Oxford and Flinders streets, and it was noticeable on the ABC’s coverage just how many were related to sport.

At a grassroots level, LGBTQIA+ teams and competitions provide young people with a safe place where they belong. They save lives.

At an elite level, the shared stories from the likes of Roberts, Adelaide United footballer Josh Cavallo and Melbourne United basketballer Isaac Humphries helps the next kid who is coming to terms with his, her or their sexuality.

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Cronulla Sharks prop Toby Rudolf, meanwhile, probably thinks he’s just being himself when he talks openly about his admiration for the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as his own “fluidity” – but he’s actually a hero who, just by living his life so openly, is making an enormous difference to people he will never meet.

On Saturday night, the parade included a float from the Sydney Swans, which also featured cheerleaders and staff from the LA Rams, the NFL team that won last year’s Super Bowl.

The Swans deserved their place in the parade because they live and breathe what they preach. LGBTQIA+ people feel safe at their matches and have done for years.

How many NRL clubs could truly say the same thing? Let’s get serious: at how many grounds could an openly gay or lesbian couple lob on the hill, throw down a blanket and watch a match without a smart-arse comment?

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By way of compromise, the NRL advocates a Respect Round, which sounds good in theory but, in reality, is another box-ticking exercise. The box it ticks is similar to the each-way box you find on a TAB ticket.

Manly prop Josh Aloiai, the poster boy of last year’s boycott, is a fan of the idea unsurprisingly. “That is true inclusivity,” he told the Herald earlier this month. “If he [V’landys] goes with that, then of course that’s great.”

Aloiai believes sexuality is a “lifestyle choice”, which suggests he’s unable to properly understand this issue, but “true inclusivity” does not come at the exclusion of others. You must respect my right to say you are going to Hell as per my religious beliefs.

That doesn’t sound like respect. That sounds like hate.

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The manner in which Aloiai and his six teammates were publicly condemned last July – including death threats – was unacceptable and shows how divisive these issues can be. Imagine being so poorly treated simply because of your religious beliefs?

Then again, imagine being so poorly treated because of who you are? Of something of which you have no say, as much as the colour of your hair? What’s left of it, anyway?

“I really hope that NRL players aren’t in general tarred with one brush, because of what happened with the Manly situation, because I think overall NRL players are very accepting and open to all sorts of situations and I hate for a minority view to be one that’s accepted widely,” Rudolf told Danny Weidler earlier this month.

That’s heartening to hear – because it comes from the heart – but clearly not one shared by club bosses.

A Pride Round would be divisive, and a Respect Round would be tokenistic, so we’ll have to stick to having footy rounds instead.

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