A group of Australian rugby players is being forced to wear gay pride jerseys during their match Thursday night, but not all of them will be participating.

Seven Manly Sea Eagles players will boycott Thursday night’s match against Sydney after being told by their club to wear a pride jersey, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Manly’s coach, Des Hasler, told the players he understood the difficult position they had been put in as a result of the club not consulting them about the jersey, the Herald reported.

The players did not want to wear the jersey on cultural and religious grounds, the Herald reported, and the coach said he will support their decision not to play.

Sea Eagles team officials said they understood the backlash it would face from the public if they decided against wearing the gay pride jersey after publicly launching it on Monday, the Herald reported.

Manly legend Ian Roberts, who came out as gay during his playing days in the 1990s, had been an advocate of the club wearing the one-off jersey.

“It hasn’t totally shocked me like it’s shocking everyone else,” Roberts said. “As an older gay man, I’m used to this. I expected there would be some sort of religious pushback.”