Football clubs across England will be lacing up to help inspire, educate, and encourage allyship to support LGBT+ inclusion over the coming weeks.

Wiltshire FA will join The FA, the Premier League, EFL, Barclays FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship and thousands of National League System and grassroots clubs in support of the Rainbow Laces campaign, which aims to work across communities to Make Sport Everyone’s Game.

This year’s campaign centres around allyship, which means being supportive of equal civil rights, gender equality and LGBT+ social movements, challenging homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

Running from 26 November to 13 December, Rainbow Laces will be worn on the pitch when possible, with the campaign also focusing on online support to celebrate and galvanise LGBT+ people and allies across communities. Wednesday 9 December will be marked as Rainbow Laces Day with everybody encouraged to share their support online.

In November 2018 The FA announced a partnership with Stonewall, which has seen the organisation commit to joining its Diversity Champions programme and working together on developing and delivering bespoke staff training and empowerment programmes for FA employees across Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park.

In recent years, many clubs and leagues in Wiltshire have supported this campaign. These combined efforts of grassroots clubs and leagues continues to use football as a vehicle to generate awareness of and help tackle homophobia, transphobia and biphobia abuse.

While progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to encourage people to be active allies of LGBT+ people and to make the game truly inclusive. Research from Stonewall, the UK’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights charity, says more than two in five [43%] think public sporting events are not a welcoming space for LGBT+ people. Research also shows that COVID-19 is having a negative impact across LGBT+ communities with many experiencing isolation and poor mental health. 

Oliver Selfe, Wiltshire FA CEO said: “Wiltshire FA is committed to making the game truly accessible to everyone and that means harnessing the power of football to help further educate and encourage allyship to support LGBT+ communities across our region.

“We are proud to support the Rainbow Laces campaign and each year we are seeing greater awareness and an increasing willingness from people to tackle all forms of discrimination. This is a significant next step to making the game inclusive for all.”

Anybody who wants to learn more about how they can support, or has a story they’d wish to share, is encouraged to get in touch. For further details and to access resources to promote your fixture, head to our Rainbow Laces page.

If you are taking part remember to share your photos with us by emailing marketing@wiltshirefa.com or tagging us in on our social media channels!

*Please note by submitting photos/videos you are consenting to the Wiltshire FA Photography and Consent Policy allowing Wiltshire FA to use the images on marketing material to promote the grassroots game, which includes promotion on our website, social media channels, e-newsletter and in printed marketing collateral. Please ensure that you have received prior consent from any individual who appears in the photo that you are submitting.