Demand for Rainbow Laces passes 100,000
With just over 48 hours to go until the football fixtures will kick off this weekend, the demand for rainbow laces had passed 100,000 requests.
The campaign by Stonewall, Paddy Power and the Gay Football Supporters’ Network, is also backed by the Premier League, out German footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger,Arsenal and Man City.
Paddy Power and Stonewall had exhausted their stocks of 50,000, and the manufacturer of the laces had run out of rainbow coloured yarn.
While the hashtag #RainbowLaces trended in the UK, organisers hoped to keep up the momentum to stay visible during this weekend’s matches.
Paving the way in creating a welcoming environment for gay footballers, Rainbow Laces in just five days drummed up a large amount of online support and love from footballers, rugby players, politicians, celebrities and brands.
Richard Lane, Media Manager at Stonewall said: “The response from clubs, players, fans, celebs and the public has been incredible. The excitement and enthusiasm that the campaign has generated is really remarkable and it’s inspiring to see a national conversation about homophobia in sport taking place. It’s up to the players now – the ball is in their court. We hope they recognise the thousands of voices calling for the game to change and lace up this weekend.”
A spokesperson from Paddy Power said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support this year. Football is well and truly behind the times when it comes to homophobia and with 7 in 10 football fans admitting to hearing homophobic chants around the terraces it’s something that we can’t and it seems the nation won’t ignore. We’re so excited to have so many familiar and new faces on board supporting the campaign but want to send out a message to everyone who hasn’t already to get involved, to re-lace, re-boot and help kick homophobia out of the park.”
The Gay Football Supporters’ Network, the national membership organisation of LGBT football fans, teams and supporters’ groups. People can find out more about as and join at: www.gfsn.org.uk.
The campaign is also supported by Premier Inn, who are renaming as Premier Out in all communications for the day, HTC/Carphone Warehouse, Playstation, Sega, Relish Broadband, KLM, Heineken, Pepsico,Lastminute.com, Dr Martens, BT Broadband / BT Sport, Starbucks, Fiat and Jersey Tourism are just some of the brands involved.
The rainbow laces campaign is advertised on PinkNews this week.
