If you watched the games in the Premier League this weekend a bit closely then you would have noticed something different.
And perhaps the oddest was the fact that a fair number of players were wearing rainbow laces on their boots.
For all the people who are wondering as to why the players and the teams chose to do that, well this was especially in support of the stonewall rainbow laces campaign which has been promoting the inclusion of LGBT in sports since 2013.
This year the Premier League have shown their support for the whole campaign as the league chose to decorate a number of their match-day assets in rainbow colours.
This is everyone's game
We are supporting the #RainbowLaces campaign this weekend 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/XqOwQeSsns
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 1, 2018
Former Chelsea player Graeme Le Saux who is the Blues Pride patron told the club’s official website:
“Thankfully I know no other player who will go through what I went through because the environment has changed so much. It’s not perfect, and there are a lot of issues that we need to focus on and highlight in order to improve even more.
“But I think we’ve come a long way in a relatively short period of time and the fact that the club have got their own equality consultant, who oversees everything, is a big step in the right direction which other clubs should follow.”
Manchester City have been long advocates of the Stonewall campaign and they also chose to tweet out their support for the LGBT community.
We’re proud to support @Stonewalluk’s #RainbowLaces Campaign.
Make Sport Everyone’s Game! 🌈 @VincentKompany @stephhoughton2 #mancity pic.twitter.com/Y7o1vVDGLh
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 30, 2018
As per the Stonewall official website:
“It’s down to all of us to be an active ally to lesbian, gay, bi and trans people in sport. Sport has the power to bring us together. Every player, every athlete, every team is stronger when sport welcomes and supports everyone.
“It’s down to all of us to become an active ally to lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.
“It’s about working together, whether that’s playing for fun, playing to win, or cheering on your favourite athletes or team.
“It’s about being a teammate and taking responsibility. It’s down to you to show your support for LGBT people.
“It’s down to you to watch your language, and challenge chants and insults about LGBT people. And it’s down to you to report abuse, whether online, watching live sport or taking part.
“When we all play our part, we can make sports everyone’s game.”
