AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou confirmed the changes on the ABC's Offisders program on Sunday morning, saying they were necessary for football to reflect social attitudes.
“We’re living in an age now where those things are unacceptable”, he said. “We’re a mature society. I don’t think anyone frowns upon Lindsay Lohan because she comes out and says she’s a lesbian."
"I hope nobody in society is criticised or ridiculed based on their sexual orientation, their ethnicity, their background. We live in a very multicultural, diverse community which we should all be very grateful for.
“Everybody is entitled to respect and there’s no place for that sort of attitude in our game or our society.”
The rule in question, rule 30, has been re-written to clarify what constitutes prohibited conduct.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the League had written to the 16 clubs on Friday to inform them of the changes.
Anderson said the wording of the vilification rules now extends to prohibit vilification on the basis of a special disability (which includes a disease or illness) or sexual orientation, preference or identity.
“The AFL competition expects the highest standards of its players and officials both on and off the field", Anderson said.
“On the field, our players deserve and expect the right to compete as hard as they possibly can in their work environment, free from any form of abuse or harassment.
“The game has acted strongly for more than a decade to work against racism and our rules have stated that no form of abuse or vilification is acceptable. However, we have not specifically laid down the areas of disability or sexual preference in our rules, and this has now been addressed.”
The clubs were also informed of other changes to the player rules and regulations, including:
• Clubs are no longer permitted to have an unlisted player, such as a potential rookie draft choice, train with a club until that player has completed his school requirements for that year.
• All football staff working with clubs are now required to be registered with the AFL, for the purposes of the AFL’s integrity rules covering anti-gambling and anti-doping, as club officials are bound by the AFL’s Rules.
• The rules relating to Team sheets required they are now lodged 90 minutes before a match. This has been in action since round one of 2009.
• For the purposes of the Coleman Medal, the AFL’s official statistician will maintain the official record of AFL goalkickers in a match.
