St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis sees the club’s involvement in the AFL’s inaugural Pride Game as an opportunity to celebrate inclusion and to help create an environment where people are comfortable being open about their sexuality.

In Round 21, St Kilda will host the first game of its kind when the Saints play Sydney at Etihad Stadium on August 13.

On International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT), Finnis said the Saints were trying to promote attitudinal change in society.

“We think it’s an important opportunity, not just to try and stamp out homophobia but to also really celebrate diversity,” Finnis told SEN Breakfast on Tuesday morning.

“At the end of the day, pride is the opposite of shame. And unfortunately, for whatever reason, some people over the journey have been made to feel shameful about their sexuality and we don’t think that’s any good.

“So we want to be part of trying to change attitudes around that. We’d be really proud if we created an environment where people felt more comfortable to be open about their sexuality.”

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Ahead of the Pride Game in mid-August, Finnis outlined a number of initiatives the Saints will roll out in the build up to the fixture.

"In the lead up to August 13 you’ll start to see some of the stories being told by the people who are in and around football who have been touched by this issue,” Finnis said.

“I think that people will really have their eyes opened about some of these experiences and then we’re really going to engage the public in some of the debates and conversation in the week leading up.

“There will be a real celebration that brings together football and the LGBTIQ community that week.”

On the back of St Kilda’s disappointing loss to West Coast on Sunday, a frustrated Finnis couldn’t put his finger on how the Saints went from nearly upsetting the ladder leaders one week to then producing such a poor showing a week later.

“It’s incredibly frustrating because we felt the trajectory we’d been going is in the right direction,” Finnis said.

“We’ve had some hiccups, poor form against the Bulldogs earlier in the year and then GWS, but that was easily the worst of our performances this year on Sunday. It’s hard to pin it down what you put it to.

“But I guess if you look at our players who have been our most consistent this year, it’s been the elder statesmen - the most experienced in ‘Joey’ Montagna and our skipper [Nick Riewoldt]. We need to build more consistency in our mid-tier players.”

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