ABOUT US
Welcome to our About Us page! Here’s where you can get to know the Sydney Outfielders a little better. You’ll find our story, our proud history, and the inclusive spirit that makes our league what it is today. Explore where we play, meet the committee, celebrate our teams and past champions, and discover the special honours like Lifetime Membership that recognise the heart of our community.
ABOUT SYDNEY OUTFIELDERS
Sydney Outfielders is an LGBTQIA+ mixed-gender slow-pitch softball league based in Sydney. We welcome players of all skill levels and sporting backgrounds — from first-timers to seasoned players, there’s a place for everyone on the diamond. Our summer season runs weekly games alongside training sessions and social events throughout the year across various locations in inner Sydney.
As Australia’s longest-running LGBTQIA+ softball league, we are proud to be community-run, not-for-profit, and built on the values of fun, inclusion, and respect, both on and off the field. We are committed to providing a safe space for all players, with a strong focus on supporting underrepresented groups in our community. To ensure this, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or harassment.
Not ready to play but still want to get involved? You can join as a social member or take part as an umpire. See our Memberships page for more information.
OUR HISTORY
Our committee members for the 2025/2026 season are experienced players who are always happy to help and share their knowledge. If you need speak to someone, don't hesitate to reach out to any of committee members.
The Sydney Outfielders has a proud and unique origin story. The league began with a group of touch footballers known as the Proud Open and Out Footballers Touch Association (POOFTAs).
In 1998, the Gay Games were held in Amsterdam — the first time the event took place in Europe, drawing an estimated quarter of a million participants and spectators. Eager to be part of the celebration, the POOFTAs quickly realised that touch football wasn’t included on the competition calendar. Undeterred, they decided to enter as a softball team instead.
Armed with wooden bats, little experience, but plenty of spirit, they took to the diamond to the roar of the crowd. While they didn’t come home with medals, they achieved something greater: they laid the foundations for what would eventually become the Sydney Outfielders — Sydney’s first LGBTQIA+ summer softball league.
On returning to Sydney, the newly named Sydney Outfielders joined the Eastern Suburbs Slow-Pitch competition, where their energy and determination paid off — securing first and third place finishes within just two seasons.
Inspired by the success of LGBTQIA+ leagues overseas, member Brett Barakat championed the idea of a dedicated local competition. By 2001, the Outfielders launched Sydney’s first LGBTQIA+ Summer Softball League, attracting eight teams in its inaugural season.
Since then, the league has continued to grow and thrive. Today, the Sydney Outfielders has nearly 200 members across 12 teams, introducing — and often reintroducing — hundreds of people to the joy of slow-pitch softball. In March 2024, the league proudly marched in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade for the very first time, celebrating its place in the wider LGBTQIA+ community with colour, pride, and plenty of Outfielder spirit.
From humble beginnings, we’ve become Australia’s longest-running LGBTQIA+ softball league, building not just a competition, but a community.
2025/26 COMMITTEE
Our committee members for the 2025/2026 season are experienced players who are always happy to help and share their knowledge. If you need to speak to us, please don't hesitate to reach out to any of our committee members throuh our website or on game day.
Pip Mowat
President
Joshua Potter
Social Officer
Luke Tuite
Vice President / Marketing
Andi Knock
Ordinary Member
Kali Hourn
Secretary
Anna Manning
Ordinary Member
(They / Them)
Rebecca Bradberry
Treasurer
Ash Martin
Ordinary Member
OUR COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION
The Sydney Outfielders is a league where everyone belongs. We are proud to be a safe, supportive, and inclusive community, with zero tolerance for bullying, harassment, or discrimination.
We work to reduce barriers to participation in sport for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community — including trans, gender diverse, and intersex players — as well as those with different accessibility requirements, ensuring everyone can take part as fully as possible. In our registration rounds, we allocate space in our player streams specifically for new members who are gender diverse, so everyone has a fair chance to join and participate.
All members and captains follow a Code of Conduct and other league documents that outline our commitment to our members and guide expected behaviours on and off the diamond. These documents are available via League Documents.
In the 2025/26 season, we introduced a 40:40:20 team composition model at registration: 40% male (cis or trans), 40% female (cis or trans), and 20% open to any gender identity. This approach ensures flexibility while supporting equitable and inclusive participation.
At the Outfielders, our goal is simple: to make softball fun, inclusive, and accessible for the whole community.
MEET THE TEAMS
Discover the amazing teams that make up the Sydney Outfielders! Whether you're a player or just curious, here you can explore the different teams in our league, see their photos, and learn more about their unique spirit and camaraderie. Get to know the faces of our inclusive and vibrant softball community!
PREVIOUS LEAGUE WINNERS
The Sydney Outfielders has a long and proud history of competition, with many memorable teams taking home honours over the years. Our league is as much about community and fun as it is about skill, and each season brings new surprises and standout performances.
LIBBY STOWE PERPETUAL TROPHY
Libby Stowe
1974-2007
In the 2007/08 season, the Sydney Outfielders introduced the Libby Stowe Perpetual Trophy in honour of Libby Stowe, who founded the Pink Mitts softball team. Libby was renowned for her warmth, generosity, humour, and unwavering sportsmanship—qualities that inspired everyone around her to play with joy, courage, and camaraderie.
In the 2025/26 season, this trophy will be awarded to the person who best exemplifies the spirit of Libby Stowe: someone who fosters inclusiveness, support, and fun, encourages others to be themselves, and brings laughter and generosity to the game.
Statement from a former captain of the Pink Mitts: “For those who never have the pleasure of meeting Libby, you truly missed out on meeting someone very special. Before Outfielders, Libby put a team together for the 2002 Gay Games, attracting players from Australia, USA, Switzerland and the UK. During the week of games, Libby was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her determination, fighting spirit, wonderful sense of humour and gentle sportsmanship inspired her team to a bronze medal for the competition. Pink Mitts was created just after the Gay Games as the girls were desperately wanting to play more softball and for the spirit of the team to continue. Libby’s involvement in the first year was interrupted only intermittently by her chemotherapy (she did play when she felt up to it and suffering from the effects of chemo - incredibly courageous for someone who was recovering from having one whole breast removed considering the amount of batting / throwing involved in the game. Libby passed away in January 2006, and I feel it would be appropriate to name a trophy in her honour for the spirit of how she was in the world, embodies the type of competition we as a sporting group (Outfielders) are trying to create in the competition - that being inclusiveness, togetherness, support, fun, enabling and constructive. Libby warmth, openness and friendliness create a sense of inclusiveness in the team. She had a gift in making people feel comfortable in being themselves which invited people’s active involvement and engagement with playing and having fun, and as a result, improving their game. I guess her main goal though was to encourage people and make them feel comfortable. She did all this with a generosity of spirit and wonderful sense of humour. Jacqui Norris, a close friend. “Libby had an open heart and was incredibly warm, generous, intuitive, insightful and supportive - and very funny - she would crack me up with her insights and humour. She has this funny knack of ‘mis-hearing’ what people said - one classic was in the Sydney games, someone commented that in running to first base they had ‘corked their thighs’. Libby misheard this as ‘parked their thighs’ which then led her onto how we might nee to marinate them to make them better, or that we better put sunscreen on them, otherwise they would
LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP
The Sydney Outfielders honour and thank members of the Outfielders community for outstanding contribution to the league by electing them as Lifetime Members at the Annual General Meeting. Lifetime Members receive free lifetime membership to the league.
Mark Gray
Dean Hansson
Scottie Lupton
Marika Nabung
Adrian Richardson
Jappe Wouters
