All Players In England And Scotland To (Hopefully) Wear Rainbow Boot Laces Next Weekend In Support Of Anti-Homophobia Campaign

Chris Wright

16th, September 2013

11 Comments

By Chris Wright

rainbow-laces

In much the same way that the Premier League was awash with red boot laces a few years ago as players demonstrated their support for the (RED) Aids charity, next weekend the entire English and Scottish league will hopefully be dashed with colour as players pledge support for the “Right Behind Gay Footballers” (RBGF) campaign.

Sets of rainbow boot laces have been sent to every single Premier League, Football League and Scottish Professional Football League club by gay rights charity Stonewall, who are running the RBGF campaign with players being given the option of wearing them in games on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of September.

Stonewall hope that the laces will be seen as a “visible stand against homophobia” in the game, with the RBGF campaign designed to “drag football into the 21st century” by changing the attitude towards homosexuality within the game rather than coercing gay footballers to come out against their wishes.

QPR midfielder Joey Barton has been one of the first players to openly voice his support, Tweeting: “Show that people’s sexuality shouldn’t be an issue. Join the rainbow laces movement.”

Yes, it’s little more than a gesture (à la Kick It Out’s pre-match t-shirts), but it’s a start.

(Image: @Joey7Barton)

Posted in Kits & fashion, Newsnow

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11 Comments

  1. s says:

    great! this is good news

  2. Wilma says:

    Any ideas of anywhere the public can buy these, chaps?

    • Chris says:

      @Wilma: No idea, though I should imagine they’ll be available shortly from sports shops and the like.

      @One Man: (re: point 2) Yes, we thought that too, though we were too polite to say anything!

  3. One Man Went to Mow says:

    I think this is a fantastic idea, however, digging a little deeper I have two very pressing concerns.

    1. This is all being bank rolled by Paddy Power. Which could mean either everyone will be banned from earing them as Paddy Power have previous when it comes to dodgey sponsorship/ad deals in football. Or that this famously crass and attention/PR whoring company will use the LGBT movement for their own social media and PR perposes and demish all value associated with it.

    2. The Name. Right Behind Gay Footballers. It just sounds like the sort of thing school boys would come up with and then snigger about. Possibly not the right sort of circumstances to deal with what could be a very delicate and explosive situation.

    I really hope I am wrong on those two points, but they are something to think about.

  4. :) says:

    As they said it’s better than gay footballers feeling they must ‘come out’ – although good one those brave few who have! It’s also a little better than those ‘kick it out’ tees as it isn’t compulsory and hopefully becomes a little bit fashionable. Great idea!

  5. :) says:

    @One Man Went to Mow – very very true. you raise a very good point. Number 2 makes me especially ashamed but I believe that it’s true – maybe it’s a little tongue in cheek, hopefully it will remove some stigma but I think more likely is what you said – a backlash of school-boy humour

  6. Joe says:

    I don’t think it goes far enough. How about referees in rainbow braces, a la Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy?
    You can usually tell who supports the campagn by the colour of their boots anyway. As did pies:

    http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/arsenal/47752/nicklas-bendtner-lives-again.html/attachment/bendtner_1119763c

  7. Jess says:

    And if a footballer doesn’t want to wear, I suppose he will be labelled evil, this is unfair pressure on any player who has different ideal an morals, whoever is promoting this idea is as bad as any homophobic.

  8. Anonymous says:

    save your money

  9. Mustapha says:

    Football boots and football laces shall always be black.

  10. Andrew says:

    The Rainbow is actually a sign of God’s covenant with humanity after the Flood.

Leave a Reply to Andrew