Australian soccer clubs will be free to once again acknowledge their ethnic background in their club logos, names and identities, according to a draft version of Football Federation Australia’s new club identity guidelines.

South Melbourne fans with Greek flags at the an Ericsson Cup grand final against Carlton at Olympic Park. Credit:Ken Irwin

The draft, titled “FFA Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity” (ICPI) and obtained by The Age and SMH, comes after the FFA said it would review the National Club Identity Policy (NCIP), which was introduced in 2014 to much controversy and derision from the Australian soccer community.

The NCIP banned all Australian soccer clubs from using names, colours, or symbols with ethnic, national, political, racial or religious motifs.

The draft policy encourages clubs to “identify themselves in an all-embracing and inclusive manner that is welcoming to all participants in preference to using monoculture branding which may be viewed as exclusionary”.