jwl2005 10 #1 Posted January 10, 2019 (edited) Sheffield Rainbow Laces 2019 – Saturday 16th February, 1-5pm SRL19 FB Page The Rainbow Laces campaign was created by Stonewall as a way for sports people to show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT+) by wearing rainbow coloured laces. Positive LGBT+ representation in sport is still very rare and we know that LGBT+ phobia continues to be a real issue in a number of sports. Sadly, reports of homophobic abuse around football matches continue to rise and last year saw a 9% rise. Furthermore, there are no openly gay male footballers in the top tiers of the sport in the UK. The last player to come out was Justin Fashanu, who came out in 1990 but died of suicide in 1998 after years of homophobic abuse. Sheffield Rainbow Laces will be held on Saturday 16th February 2019 to coincide with LGBT+ History Month. The tournament will be 5-a-side and held at GOALS on Norfolk Park Road from 1-5p.m. The event is being jointly organised by Sheffield LGBT+ young people’s charity, SAYiT, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary and Sheffield Hallam University. The purpose of this event is to raise money for charity, raise awareness of LGBT+ inclusion in sport for fans and for people directly involved in sport who identify as LGBT+. It is also about stamping out LGBT+ phobia in sport and showing it the red card for good. The event will include a DJ for the afternoon, a pizza buffet for all taking part and spectators, private access to the bar, a penalty shootout competition, a raffle and an awards ceremony. All players, referees, volunteers and staff at GOALS will be wearing rainbow laces as a symbol for the campaign. All spectators are very welcome. 18s & over only and mixed gender teams are encouraged. We are charging £40 per team, so if you have 8 players, that’s only £5 each. Please sign your team up now – http://7.ly/SRL19 All the money raised will go to SAYiT, which is also linked to the Noah Lomax fund. Noah Lomax was a 15-year-old who had mental health problems and identified as gay. He was extremely proud of his sexuality and did all he could to campaign for equality. Noah sadly died back in August 2018. The fund has been set up in his name to help continue to support young LGBT+ people with mental health problems. Please show your support and sign up a team. You don’t have to be a great football player – it’s all about showing your support for LGBT+ rights and also having some fun. So come on get those football boots on, come and join us and we’ll supply you with the rainbow laces. Teams must sign up and can't just turn up on the day. Edited January 10, 2019 by jwl2005 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
