Late one night in October 2006, cornered in a laneway in the CBD, a young man, out celebrating his 20^th birthday was unlucky enough to become one of the many victims of social violence in Victoria.

Felled by a single punch, James Macready-Bryan suffered catastrophic brain damage from which he will never recover. In response to this tragedy, a group of James’ close friends started Step Back Think.

From day one, Step Back Think’s aim has been to act as a mechanism to end this type of violence and to prevent others going through what James, his family and his friends are faced with each day.

Since 2000, 96 Australians have died due to social violence. 85 of these were the result of a single punch. And in just one year there were a reported 19,000 assaults in Victoria alone.

This June, Step Back Think are encouraging professional and local sports teams to rally together, lace up in orange shoelaces and make a stand against social violence.

The Melbourne Rebels will be kicking off the Lace Up weekend, with the players donning the SBT orange laces in the final round match of the year against Western Force. The in-form GWS Giants will be Lacing Up against Collingwood on the Sunday and Melbourne Storm will be rounding out the weekend with a big game against the Eels at AAMI Park on Monday night.

Saturday is when you come in. Step Back Think are asking any team or individual stepping on to a sporting field, to register online and order their free orange shoelaces. Almost 400 teams from around Australia have already registered, including footy, rugby, netball, hockey and Gridiron teams!

Join sporting stars such as Tom Scully and Josh Kelly from GWS Giants, Steve Morris from Richmond, Essendon’s Dyson Heppell, Tohu Harris from Melbourne Storm, Scott Fuglistaller co-captain of the Rebels and Bianca Chatfield, captain of the Melbourne Vixens, who are all Ambassadors for the campaign and ready to Lace Up this June. 

To register your club and get your players, coaches and umpires/referees involved, please visit stepbackthink.org/lace-up-registration/ and Step Back Think will post your free orange laces, along with an education pack, prior to the weekend.