Elite League’s Pride Week having ‘lasting impact’ for LGBTQ people in ice hockey
EIHL’s media manager Luke Fisher says personal stories shared with him show annual celebration is making a difference; national LGBTQ+ support line Switchboard is the official charity partner for 2025, with match officials wearing specially designed jerseys…

The positive effects of the Elite Ice Hockey League’s annual Pride Week are continuing to be felt across the sport in the UK.
The EIHL’s media and comms manager Luke Fisher has been a pivotal figure in the success of the activation, which extends beyond the top tier in Britain.
Inspired by a colourful, fan-led celebration by hockey fans on playoffs weekend seven years ago, events and dedicated Pride Games are now held across the country every January.
Ice hockey is the UK’s best-attended indoor sport and is ranked fifth overall for all team sports. However, it receives relatively little mainstream media coverage, in comparison to other indoor sports like darts and snooker.
The EIHL’s commitment to Pride Week, amplified by governing body England Ice Hockey and the semi-pro, second-tier National Ice Hockey League, has helped the sport develop a loyal LGBTQ+ fanbase.
This season, the league has a national charity partner for the first time in support line Switchboard, whose logo is featuring prominently on officials’ jerseys alongside those of Hockey is Diversity and Pride Tape, with a Progress chevron on the sleeve.
Luke tells Sports Media LGBT+: “In previous years, we’d stayed away from having a national partner because we wanted teams to do as much as they could in their own local communities.
“But now it feels like the right time – we’ve established what we’re doing, and we’re the only pro sports league in the UK that covers all four home nations.
“My friend Morgan, who volunteers at Peterborough Phantoms in the NIHL, suggested Switchboard. They were excited to be involved and I think it’s a great fit – they’re available anytime someone needs support and we’re not doing this just for January.
“What we’re trying to have here is a lasting impact, so that anyone in hockey feels inclusion the whole year round.”
The charity’s CEO Steph Fuller wrote on LinkedIn that she was “so happy” to have Switchboard come on board with the EIHL, adding: “Visibility in a variety of spaces is so important to us, because our community exists within all communities.”
So far this month, Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers have held their Pride Games, with those of the other EIHL teams to follow.
Sadly, the Glasgow Clan and Fife Flyers were both forced to postpone their planned Pride Nights on Friday and Saturday respectively due to the weather chaos caused by Storm Eowyn. The Clan’s will now be on February 5.
Overall, it’s a significant and comprehensive activation. Luke adds: “We think we’re the only pro sports league in the UK doing this across all its teams.
“We have the active involvement of those clubs too, so we’re not just saying it’s coming from the league. It encompasses the whole game day and it’s a whole team on the ice wearing those jerseys.
“So really, it comes down the fact every team is opting in.”

In the NIHL, the Peterborough Phantoms’ designated game is on Sunday night against Leeds Knights. It’s particularly meaningful to club volunteer Morgan Ladd, a friend of Luke’s who originally suggested Switchboard as a potential EIHL partner.
“I’m helping to set up Pride at the Phantoms, planning the music and social media posts,” he says. “Peterborough Pride will be with us as the local charity involved.
“We’ve done Pride Games before and mainly that’s just been wearing a jersey. So I thought for this season, let’s make it a bit more – we have Pride pucks, LGBTQ+ artists on the playlist, and we’re putting more attention and detail into it.”

For Luke, it’s hugely encouraging to see the wider hockey community continuing to show up and support the Pride activity, at a time when there is more negativity being shown towards such initiatives in other sports and society more generally.
“You always get a few of those same old social media comments of, ‘when are we doing straight pride night?’ or ‘you’re doing inclusion, but this is just creating division’.
“But our fans police that themselves. They value this a lot because it’s something that makes our sport pretty special. The whole fan element of hockey has always been quite different to football.
“They’re protective over keeping that tight-knit, safe environment and community feel. And hockey locker rooms are pretty good at policing themselves as well – the guys are all out there on the ice wearing the jerseys.”
A strong example of allyship this week was a video shared on social media by top-of-the-table Belfast Giants, featuring conversations between the team’s star defenceman Jeff Baum and staff from Cara Friend, Northern Ireland’s foremost LGBTQ+ charity which the Giants are supporting for Pride.
Unlike the vast majority of pro leagues in men’s team sports, the EIHL has an out player in Manchester Storm’s Zach Sullivan, who came out publicly during Pride Week in January 2020.
Luke says other LGBTQ+ people within British hockey have told him that the activation resonates with them too.
“They’ve been involved in teams either on or off the ice and said, ‘it made me comfortable to share X,Y and Z,’ however they want to. That’s important.
“It might go unnoticed in the context of a locker room. It might just be between friends. It doesn’t necessarily need to be out there in the same way that Zach shared his story.
“But definitely what we do with Pride has encouraged people to feel comfortable and to feel safe.”

It’s why EIHL’s partnership with Switchboard makes so much sense.
For young people in particular, the locker room can be a sanctuary offering bonding and understanding – but it can also be conformist and intimidating. The leadership figures in these spaces tend to set the tone.
Luke adds: “We’re not doing Pride because of myself, or Zach, or Morgan. It’s because somewhere, someone is 13 and is playing junior hockey or is going to games with their friends and they’re worried.
“That’s the message you want to get across – they don’t have to be afraid. It’s a safe space and environment whether they’re playing, volunteering, whatever it is.”
Morgan believes Pride Week is helping to ‘usualise’ the conversation about being LGBTQ+ and remove some of the stigma that still persists.
“There’s still that instinct of worrying about having to come out, and having the ability to feel comfortable in your sexuality.
“Someone I know got married to a woman, had children and later realised he was gay. That’s an experience that still happens.
“I’m lucky to be part of a generation where a lot of us felt able to come out at an earlier age because the LGBTQ+ community was talked about more in social settings and seen positively on TV and film.”
For those who are passionate about sports, the ongoing Pride visibility in the EIHL remains a powerful force.
For more Pride Week coverage, visit the EIHL’s official website.
Further reading and listening…
LGBTQ+ in ice hockey content on Sports Media LGBT+
Interviews and features on Pride of the Terraces
Zach Sullivan interview on The Jack Murley Sports Show podcast (August 2024)

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