Football club apologises for promoting heterosexuals only singles night

Advertisement has been called 'tone deaf' and 'embarrassing'

An Australian football club has issued an apology after promoting a singles night for straight people only.

On Monday, Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club announced that its next match against Perth Glory would also double as a singles night.

In the advertisement for the event, which is scheduled to take place on 4 April, the club stated that it would help fans “find love” and provided a detailed breakdown of the benefits every guest would be entitled too, including a complimentary glass of wine and canape service.

The final bullet point of the list provided by the club stated: “Everyone is welcome, however please note this is a heterosexual event.”

Fans on social media were quick to react to the advert with many describing the event as “tone deaf” and “embarrassing” for excluding the LGBT+ community.

“A professional football club hosting a singles event, at a game, and essentially banning gay people from finding love on the night,” one person wrote.

“I'd be embarrassed to be involved with the Western Sydney Wanderers”

Following the backlash, a Western Sydney Wanderers FC spokesperson has issued an apology and confirmed that the club has changed the wording of the event details.

“We apologise for the wording and it has been removed from the event details,” the spokesperson said.

“From our research, a singles night is often sexual-orientation based - which is a consistent theme across these type of events, and we were attempting to give our audience clarity.

”No-one is excluded. This is our first attempt to run an event like this at match and, if successful, we could host others in the future, including for our LGBTQI family."

The apology comes just weeks after the club was involved in a separate incident that saw its active supporter group make a “homophobic” taunt in an online post before the Sydney Derby.

The post said it “would be a busy week for most [Sydney FC] supporters with Mardi Gras to attend,” and drew strong criticism from the Wanderers.

At the time, Western Sydney Wanderers said in a statement: “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable. We are and always will be a fully inclusive football club."