AN IMPORTANT part of Carlton’s profile in the community is the Club’s flagship initiative, Carlton Respects.

Tonight, the Blues will run out in front of a sold-out Marvel Stadium crowd donning their familiar orange socks and special Carlton Respects guernsey.

It will be the eighth straight AFL Carlton Respects Game where Carlton will wear the orange socks, while the jumper will appear for the second straight year after its debut last year.

Raising awareness for gender equality and the prevention of violence against women, it is a cause that continues to have an impact on the foundation of the football club as a whole. 

This year, awareness has turned to action with the Club rolling out the Road to Respect digital learning platform: a free and online program aimed at educating Grade 5 and 6 students in the classroom.

The Club’s involvement with the program grows every year, and not only with the players and staff: as Carlton aims to raise $125,000 to support the Carlton Respects Road to Respect program, Co-Major partners Hyundai and Great Southern Bank will each be donating $1,000 per goal Carlton kicks in tonight’s clash with Brisbane!

For more information on Carlton Respects, click here.

Or see what Carlton people themselves had to say in what has fast become one of the key weeks on the Navy Blue calendar.

Michael Voss

"It’s pretty significant. I’ve been here a couple of years and seeing the work that goes on behind that program has been pretty amazing. Being able to raise awareness around gender equality and the prevention of violence against women is something that we’ve seen in the program emerging and where it’s reaching.

"We talk about generational change, it’s clearly trying to do that within schools and hopefully we can continue to expand that reach."

Patty Kinnersly
Carlton Co-Vice President and Our Watch CEO, speaking on ABC Drive

“What we know as a football club is we have an enormous influence, reaching into more than 85,000 members but also our business members, our community members. The Road to Respect, which is our learning platform, reaches into schools and we aim to talk to over 12,000 students next year. 

“What’s really important to remember is we’re talking about prevention, and creating an environment where women and men are equal and we’re likely to have less violence. It’s not just the job of organisations like Our Watch: in fact, what we need is leadership from sporting organisations and big corporates and the media. 

“The Carlton Football Club leading initiatives like Carlton Respects and the Road to Respect is exactly what we need if we’re going to change the community, with everybody taking a leadership role . . . this is a whole generation of kids we want to inspire: in this case, through their connection and love for sport.”

Ed Curnow

“Carlton Respects is a program that is very dear to the Carlton footy club.

“The [schools] program promotes help-seeking, managing emotions, what respectful and healthy relationships look like, what that looks like at home and how you treat your siblings.

“The equality piece strikes a home cord now: I’ve got two sons and a daughter, so I really want equal opportunities for all kids, no matter what they seek to do in life. It’s a great strong program that I think will be around for many years to come."

Marc Pittonet

“It’s a really important round for the Club. 

“It’s to promote gender equality for the prevention of violence against women. We were up there earlier with the kids doing their modules for the Road To Respect for grades five and six, which is a free online program. 

“It’s our process as a club to move from raising awareness to putting in more action. We know that prevention starts at such an early age and is such an important issue where we can really have an impact.”

Mitch McGovern

“Coming to schools like St Joseph’s Brunswick West is awesome for us as players to put out the initiative and follow up on the Carlton Respects and Road to Respect programs, which the students are doing now — which is awesome.

“It’s about interacting and seeing how the students are going with the pathway, hopefully it’s an enjoyable one and an educated one.

“For us as players, it’s awesome as players to come out and see what the students are doing in classrooms and to represent the orange we’re wearing on the weekend.”

Alessandra Saladino
Grade 5 and 6 teacher, St Joseph’s Brunswick West

“It’s been working really with what we’ve been doing with our wellbeing program, and for the students to unpack and describe how they’re feeling and ways to deal with that. It’s not just in the classroom or in the playground, but even outside the school community and playing sport themselves. 

“It’s been really good to see, and to be able to break through stereotypes has been a huge part with this program, what they’re learning and what Carlton Football Club is trying to do as well. You can see the excitement on the kids’ faces.”

Daniel Paulino
Yiayia Next Door

“Yiayia Next Door is a social enterprise which was founded in 2018, where we hope to make impact in communities to raise awareness with domestic violence. We love to work with like-minded organisations like Carlton Respects to really make an impact in the community and target the younger demographic to educate them.”