The FA is teaming up with Stonewall, the leading UK campaigning charity on lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality (LGBT) rights to support the Rainbow Laces campaign.

The Rainbow Laces campaign is a way for everyone involved in sport to show their support for LGBT equality and inclusivity and we are very proud to support the initiative.

There are a number of weekends that leagues, clubs and officials are being encouraged to support the campaign by wearing Rainbow Laces for their games, with the official weekends being 17-18, 24-25 November and 1-2 December 2018.

In 2017 the campaign had its most successful year yet inspiring around 7 million people to feel more positive about LGBT inclusion in sport after having seeing the awareness and support that the campaign had raised.

Across the three Sussex leagues participating in the campaign (Mid Sussex Football League, Sussex Sunday Football League and the Sussex County Women’s & Girls’ Football League) and our Under-18s Representative Squad, over one thousand pairs of Rainbow Laces will be distributed for players to wear across ninety matches.

Also on Friday 23 November our Women’s Recreational Festival will support the campaign with approximately one hundred and twenty players wearing the Rainbow Laces, and our Sussex RA-FA Youth Council will also be lacing up to show support from the refereeing fraternity. 

Saturday 28 November, it is the official ‘Wear Your #RainbowLacesDay’ with teams, leagues, businesses, schools and leading sports people all over the world getting together to wear their Rainbow Laces, take pictures and post on social media to show that they are Coming Out for LGBT+ people in sport.

There are other ways of showing your support by wearing the laces on your wrists, ankles or in your hair.

If you would like to get involved and show your support, please visit the Rainbow Laces campaign or contact Stonewall:

Stonewall
T: 020 7593 1850
E: info@stonewall.org.uk