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Premier League Rainbow Laces campaign explained: What is it and what has sparked controversy?

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Premier League Rainbow Laces campaign explained: What is it and what has sparked controversy?

The Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign, an annual show of support for the LGBTQ+ community, has been overshadowed this week.

Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy twice refused to wear the accompanying rainbow armband in games, citing his religious beliefs, while Crystal Palace skipper Marc Guehi chose to write two pro-Christian messages on the armbands he’s worn in their past two matches.

The Athletic also reported on Wednesday morning that Manchester United abandoned plans to wear rainbow-themed Adidas warm-up jackets ahead of Sunday’s 4-0 win over Everton after defender Noussair Mazraoui refused to join the initiative. The Morocco international, like Morsy, pointed to his Muslim faith as the reason for his reluctance.

A well-intended campaign from the Premier League has found itself at the heart of a wider, divisive debate but one that is not unique to English football. 

The Athletic analyses the origins of rainbow laces and whether the initiative can retain a place in the game’s calendar. 

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What is the Rainbow Laces campaign and why was it introduced?

The campaign dates back to 2013 when Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, initially teamed up with UK bookmaker Paddy Power to send rainbow-coloured laces to all professional footballers across England and Scotland.

Players were encouraged to show their support for LGBTQ+ communities by wearing them and its success led to the Premier League formally partnering with Stonewall in an attempt to improve inclusivity across the top level of English football. A report released by Stonewall last month showed that one in four LGBTQ+ people still did not feel welcome at live sporting events.

It has become customary for the Premier League to allot two matchweeks to the Rainbow Laces campaign every season, presenting all 20 clubs with the opportunity to mark the event with a home fixture. The Premier League distributes rainbow-branded corner flags, ball plinths, handshake boards and substitution boards to its clubs, as well as the laces and captain’s armbands.


A rainbow-coloured substitution board is one of the other ways the Premier League marks the campaign (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The wider period, this season running between November 29 and December 5, also sees clubs encouraged to highlight the work they do to “embed equality, diversity and inclusion”.

That typically includes content with managers, players and supporters to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities. One example this year was Southampton and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale speaking out on the challenges faced by his brother, Oliver, who is openly gay.

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Why has it proved a talking point this year?

Morsy’s decision not to wear a rainbow armband for Ipswich’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday made him the only one of 20 captains in the Premier League not to do so. A club statement, released on Monday, confirmed the “religious beliefs” of Morsy, a Muslim, had been behind the step, with Ipswich saying they would “respect” the midfielder’s actions.

Also on Saturday, Guehi, a devout Christian, wore the rainbow armband in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle United after having written ”I (heart) Jesus” across it. Doing so contravened the Football Association’s rules banning any religious messaging being carried on playing kits.

By chance, Morsy and Guehi were on opposing teams on Tuesday night as Palace won 1-0 away to Ipswich. Morsy again chose not to wear the rainbow armband, while Guehi had changed the written message on his to “Jesus (heart) you”.


Marc Guehi and Sam Morsy both made their own statements around the Rainbow Laces campaign (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Speaking to Sky Sports on Wednesday, Guehi explained his thinking behind writing the messages.

“I think the message was pretty clear, to be honest,” he said. “It’s a message of love and truth as well and a message of inclusivity, so it speaks for itself.”

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On Wednesday, The Athletic revealed United’s plan to wear rainbow-themed warm-up jackets ahead of Sunday’s game with Everton was scrapped due to Mazraoui, who is Muslim, refusing to take part.

Is this the first time it has provoked controversy?

This is the second year that a Premier League side’s captain has opted against wearing the rainbow armband, after Sheffield United’s Anel Ahmedhodzic, the Bosnia and Herzegovina international defender, did so last December.

Ahmedhodzic, a Muslim, wore the standard Premier League armband for a 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool, in what was his first game as the team’s captain. Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder told reporters after the game that he had been unaware of Ahmedhodzic’s decision, and when asked by Swedish outlet SVT Sport why he had chosen not to have a rainbow armband, the defender answered, “Guess.”

Are players allowed to not wear a rainbow armband or laces?

Neither the laces nor the armband are considered compulsory but there has been an unwritten expectation that all players help promote the campaign. No Premier League captain, until Ahmedhodzic did so, had shown any resistance to the pro-LGBTQ+ messaging.

What are the rules around footballers promoting political symbols or messages on their kits?

Doing that, in short, is prohibited by the FA, who have specific kit requirements for players at all levels of English football. “Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images,” it outlines under Law 4.

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The theory is that football, and a player’s kit, should not be used for the promotion of any beliefs, ensuring religion and politics are kept at a distance.

Those lines, though, can be blurred.

The annual poppy appeal, raising money for veterans of Britain’s armed forces, sees clubs carry the charity’s logo on their kits but James McClean, now of Wrexham in League One, has long considered it a political symbol and refused to commemorate the occasion, owing to his roots as a Catholic growing up in Northern Ireland.


McClean stands away from his Wrexham team-mates during the Remembrance Day minute’s silence in November (Gary Oakley/PA Images via Getty Images)

“The poppy represents, for me, an entire different meaning to what it does for others,” McClean posted on Instagram in November. “Am I offended by someone wearing a poppy? No, absolutely not, what does offend me though, is having the poppy… forced upon me.”

The same stance was adopted by Nemanja Matic as a Manchester United player, because of Britain’s historic involvement in a military campaign in his homeland of Serbia.

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It’s not just players either. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was fined £20,000 by the FA in 2018 for wearing a yellow ribbon — a symbol of solidarity with members of the independence movement in the Spanish region of Catalonia, where Guardiola is from, who had been arrested by Spain’s authorities — during an FA Cup tie against Wigan Athletic.

What has been the response of the football governing bodies and LGBTQ rights groups?

The FA has been in contact with Palace since Guehi wore his modified rainbow armband to remind them of the kit regulations, but no formal action will follow. Palace manager Oliver Glasner told reporters on Tuesday night he had spoken with Guehi ahead of the Ipswich game. “He’s no child. He’s an adult and he has an opinion,” said Glasner. “We respect that, and accept every opinion.”

Though the FA and Premier League are yet to make any formal comments on Morsy refusing to wear a rainbow armband or Guehi’s messaging, Stonewall released their own statement this week. “It has been incredible to see so many football teams at all levels support our Rainbow Laces campaign to make sport safer and more inclusive for all. When clubs like Ipswich Town FC show their support, it helps people feel safe and welcome both on and off the pitch,” a spokesperson said. “It is up to individuals to choose if and how they show their support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

‘We deserve our rights’: How LGBTQ+ fans feel about Rainbow Laces controversy

Is the campaign likely to keep going?

There is no indication the actions of Morsy and Guehi, or the events at Manchester United, will lead to any changes in the Premier League’s allyship with Stonewall. It has been a long-running partnership designed to welcome LGBTQ+ communities and heighten inclusivity and the resistance to the campaign has been nominal.

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Ahead of this year’s event, the league’s chief executive Richard Masters suggested it remained a long-term commitment.

“There has been considerable progress to make football a more inclusive environment for the LGBTQ+ community since the Rainbow Laces campaign launched a decade ago,” Masters said. “We are determined to maintain this momentum to make sure football is welcoming for everyone and send a clear message that discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.”


Tottenham Hotspur Stadium lit up in rainbow colours in support of the initiative (Getty Images)

Are there equivalent campaigns in other sports?

The Rainbow Laces campaign is not confined to football in England, with Stonewall saying “over a million” people have participated since its launch 11 years ago, including elite athletes from the worlds of rugby union, rugby league and cricket.

Other countries have adopted similar initiatives and, like the Premier League, run into problems.

Clubs from French football’s top divisions wear shirts carrying rainbow colours once a season to promote LGBTQ+ causes, leading some players to make themselves unavailable for that round of games.

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Midfielder Idrissa Gueye, now in the Premier League with Everton, was twice left out of Paris Saint-Germain squads after refusing to wear the modified shirt. Mauricio Pochettino, the club’s manager at the time, said in 2022 that Gueye had missed one particular match for “personal reasons” and there was support from Cheikhou Kouyate of Palace and Watford’s Ismaila Sarr (now a Palace player himself) on social media. All three play at international level for Senegal, where homosexuality is illegal.

Toulouse and Morocco forward Zakaria Aboukhlal also decided not to appear for his French club in 2023 when rainbow kits marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Monaco and Mali midfielder Mohamed Camara was handed a four-match ban at the end of last season after covering up an anti-homophobia message on his shirt during a match in Ligue 1, the top division of club football in France. Amelie Oudea-Castera, the country’s sports minister, called Camara’s actions “unacceptable behaviour.”

The rainbow colours also created an issue in the NHL, North America’s top ice hockey league, last year. The NHL reversed a ban on players wrapping multi-coloured ‘Pride’ tape around their hockey sticks in support of LGBTQ+ communities.

(Top photo: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

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Tom Brady on late hit call against Azeez Al-Shaair: ‘I have mixed emotions’

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Tom Brady on late hit call against Azeez Al-Shaair: ‘I have mixed emotions’

Former NFL quarterback and Fox analyst Tom Brady said he had “mixed emotions” about the uproar surrounding a late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on Sunday, and argued quarterbacks need to “take better care of themselves” when leaving the pocket to run.

Appearing on Fox’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on Tuesday, Brady argued that the onus of protecting a running quarterback doesn’t just fall on the defense. Brady’s comments came after the NFL suspended Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for three games for the hit that concussed Lawrence. Al-Shaair is appealing the suspension.

“It’s gone to a point where everyone will label a certain player as a dirty player; I don’t like that one bit,” Brady said. “Maybe they fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late and say, ‘Look, if we don’t want these hits to take place, we’ve got to penalize the offense and the defense rather than just penalize a defensive player for every single play that happens when there is a hit on a quarterback.’”

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, detailed a story during his playing career where he slid late and took a crushing hit. His teammates told him to get down because “these players are coming to get you.”

“Defensive players have to be aggressive, that’s their nature,” he said. “I always tried to be aggressive on offense, we tried to block aggressively and at the same time the defense tried to tackle aggressively.”

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Brady added, “I see (Buffalo Bills quarterback) Josh Allen running a lot, I see (Baltimore Ravens quarterback) Lamar Jackson running a lot and it’s a great skill to have. I wish I had that skill set. And at the same time, when you run, you put yourself in a lot of danger, and when you do that, I don’t think the onus of protecting an offensive quarterback who’s running should be on a defensive player. I don’t really think that’s fair to the defense.”

Al-Shaair apologized for the hit on Lawrence on Monday.

“I genuinely didn’t see him sliding until it was too late,” Al-Shaair said in a post on X. “And it all happens in the blink of an eye. To Trevor, I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening. Before the game we spoke and I told you how it was great to see you back on the field and wished you well. I would never want to see any player hurt because of a hit I put on them especially one that’s deemed ‘late’ or ‘unnecessary.’”

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Texans general manager Nick Caserio addressed his frustration in a Tuesday news conference amid the backlash Al-Shaair has received since Sunday, defending the linebacker.

“I think where we take umbrage is the picture that’s been painted about Azeez, his intentions, who he is as a person — quite frankly it’s b—–-,” Caserio said. “It’s unfair to the individual, it’s unfair to the organization. We love everything about Azeez Al-Shaair, what he means to this team, what he brings to this team. He was elected a captain after being here for four months.

Brady said it is also up to offensive coordinators and play callers to help protect quarterbacks by not calling so many designed runs.

“The aspect for a play caller, there’s more design runs for quarterbacks ever now than in the history of the NFL. So are we really trying to protect quarterbacks? Because if you are trying to do it through the rules then why are the offensive coordinators not protecting by keeping them in the pocket and not designing as many quarterback runs?”

The Texans are off until Dec. 15, when they will host the Miami Dolphins.

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(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

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Gymnast Simone Biles vows to 'never' return to Pilates class, cites difficulty with first experience

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Gymnast Simone Biles vows to 'never' return to Pilates class, cites difficulty with first experience

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Simone Biles is an elite athlete and one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, but she recently admitted she struggled to get through a workout.

Biles apparently took some time off after she won her fifth, sixth and seventh Olympic gold medals earlier this year in Paris. 

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But she recently resumed her workouts. 

According to Biles’ social media account, Pilates was at least part of her first post-Olympics workout, but her experience with the popular exercise was not something she is interested in doing again.

Simone Biles warms up before the U.S. Gymnastics Championships Aug. 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif.  (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

“First time working out since the olympics,” the superstar gymnast wrote on her Instagram story Wednesday. “This is what I wore to a Pilates class that I will never be attending again! Y’all stay strong out there lmao. It was too hard.”

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LIVVY DUNNE REFLECTS ON WATCHING SIMONE BILES IN PERSON AT OLYMPICS, ‘HEARTBREAKING’ JORDAN CHILES CONTROVERSY

Joseph Pilates is credited with developing the exercise. A typical Pilates class involves machines, which use bands and movable benches.

Simone Biles waves to the crowd

Simone Biles reacts after competing in the floor exercise during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships Aug. 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif.  (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Exercises focus on Improving flexibility and building muscle strength. When done properly, Pilates has also been known to help lower back and leg muscles.

Simone Biles waits

Simone Biles waits her turn to compete on the balance beam during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships June 4, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Biles has not ruled out competing again in the Olympics.

“Never say never. The next Olympics is at home. So, you just never know. But I am getting really old,” Biles, 27, said in August.

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The Summer Games are scheduled to return to the U.S. in 2028, when athletes from across the globe descend upon Los Angeles. It will mark the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics an American city hosts the summer edition of the Games.

In addition to the three gold medals she earned at the Paris Olympics, Biles also won silver in the floor exercise.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Prep basketball roundup: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame surges past Los Alamitos

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Prep basketball roundup: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame surges past Los Alamitos

Less than two minutes into the game against Los Alamitos on Wednesday night, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant went into full Dan Hurley mode, calling a timeout and benching four of his starters with his team trailing 7-2.

By the end of the first quarter, his team trailed by three points and Zachary White was fuming not only because he couldn’t find his missing jersey at home, but because Sargeant was dissatisfied with his effort.

“I was mad,” White said. “He said I wasn’t playing hard, so I wanted to prove him wrong.”

White proceeded to score five consecutive baskets in the second quarter to help Notre Dame obliterate the No. 10-ranked team in Southern California with a 31-9 surge. By the game’s conclusion, Notre Dame had won 100-69, leaving little doubt that the Knights, St. John Bosco, Harvard-Westlake and Eastvale Roosevelt are four teams that have separated themselves from the rest of the top teams early this season.

And Notre Dame (5-0) is still awaiting the return of Tyran Stokes, its All-American junior transfer student recovering from a wrist injury. He’s practicing but probably won’t be available to play until later this month. Lino Mark scored 24 points and Josiah Nance had 22 points. White finished with 12 points and nine rebounds and planned to search for his jersey. Samori Guyness had 19 points for Los Alamitos (3-2).

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Loyola 69, Downey 54: Quincy Watson finished with 20 points for Loyola.

Bishop Alemany 46, Arcadia 41: Freshman Houston Rolle had 11 points for Alemany.

Westlake 56, Crespi 52: Austin Maziasz led the Warriors’ upset with 19 points. Peyton White had 26 points for Crespi.

Heritage Christian 68, Bishop Montgomery 56: Dillan Shaw and Tae Simmons each scored 23 points and Dominic Loehle added 19 points for 6-0 Heritage Christian.

Mira Costa 71, Cajon 52: The Mustangs (8-0) received 14 points from Eneasi Piuleini.

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Crossroads 82, Venice 49: EJ Vernon returned to scored 31 points and get 10 rebounds for Crossroads.

Viewpoint 63, St. Genevieve 23: Wesley Waddles had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Viewpoint.

Tesoro 66, Churchie 56: Nathan Draper had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Tesoro.

AGBU 71, Mesrobian 54: Isaiah Bennett had 30 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for 9-0 AGBU.

Malibu 78, Pilgrim 72: Dylan Goosen had 36 points in the overtime win.

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Girls basketball

Ventura 70, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 43: Kailee Staniland scored 29 points for Ventura. Freshman Hamiley Arenas had 29 points for Notre Dame.

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