"I SWEAR never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women," echoed across the region as men took a stand to stop violence against women in the community.
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Among these men proudly stood Toronto's Steve Woodbridge at the White Ribbon Day Hunter Breakfast on Tuesday.
Mr Woodbridge believes he is "one of the lucky ones" as his life has not been directly impacted by domestic violence.
Although, through his work as a civilian with NSW Police, he sees the statistics.
In Lake Macquarie, 720 incidents of domestic violence were reported between July 2013 and June 2014, according to NSW Crime Statistics. There were 706 in Newcastle.
Nationally, domestic violence is the leading cause of death and injury among women under 45 years of age and at least one woman is murdered by her current or former partner every week.
"It really starts to hit home," Mr Woodbridge said.
However, through sport he has been able to spread the word that domestic violence will not be tolerated.
As the secretary of the Macquarie Scorpions Rugby League Club, he has been involved in the Let's Tackle Domestic Violence program.
The club joined the NSW government program four years ago, after one of the players' mothers suggested it.
The program promotes changing attitudes and behaviours to domestic violence through a code of conduct and workshops.
Since then, more than 400 codes of conduct to refrain from domestic violence have been signed by Macquarie Scorpion first-grade players, coaches and volunteers.
Penalties for a breach of conduct range from exclusion from games and other club events to deregistration.
To date, the Scorpions have used the game-exclusion penalty twice.
Annual workshops carry the same message: "it's no longer good enough to say it is none of our business - it's all of our business now".
Through statistics, personal stories and fitness drills, the workshops give ways to talk about abuse and take positive action to stop and report it.
Wallet-size cards with contacts for men's service - gambling, alcohol abuse and mental health - are distributed.
Mr Woodbridge said each workshop was like herding cats at the start but by the end you could hear a pin drop.
Each year a survey is conducted and the results across the state show positive signs. More than 50 per cent say they have stopped someone being violent and 86 per cent have talked to their mates and family about domestic violence.
The club has gone one step further by dedicating a round to the program in conjunction with Newcastle Rugby League. For the past two years, the Let's Tackle round has been the home game against South Newcastle, which has also joined the program.
Proceeds go to Westlakes Crisis Accommodation.
