‘Rainbow Laces’ ad aims to kick homophobia out of football
By Josh Haggis
A new TV advert featuring five current Arsenal players has been released to kick off the new Rainbow Laces campaign.
Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla and club captain Mikel Arteta star in the lighthearted advert, which aims to highlight a very serious issue – homophobia in professional football.
Watch the new TV advert below:
The Rainbow Laces campaign, which first took place last year, is a joint initiative between LGB rights charity Stonewall, the Gay Football Supporters’ Network (GFSN) and Paddy Power – and has official backing from the Premier League.
As part of the campaign, rainbow bootlaces have been sent to every single professional football player in the UK. Players and fans are being encouraged to support the campaign next weekend (September 13-14) by lacing up and tweeting using the #RainbowLaces hashtag.
Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive of Stonewall, said in a press release:
“We know that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are still rife in football. That needs to change. Last year’s Rainbow Laces campaign was a great start but there’s still a long way to go both on and off the pitch. The clubs and players supporting the campaign and lacing up this weekend are taking a powerful stand against prejudice in our national game. Our work in sport will continue all year round, but for this week we need as many people as possible to show their support and get involved.”
The campaign also has support from Thomas Hitzlsperger, the only out gay player to have competed in the Premier League.
“I’m proud to be working with Stonewall on the Rainbow Laces campaign. I want to show that being gay and a professional footballer is something that’s normal,” he said. “The perceived contradiction between playing football, the man’s game, and being homosexual is nonsense.”
There are currently 5,000 professional footballers in the UK – but not one of them is an out gay man. According to research conducted by Stonewall, seven in ten football fans have heard or witnessed homophobia while attending matches and more than four in ten consider football to be an anti-gay sport.