Premier League ‘dropped ball’ on Rainbow Laces, LGBTQ fan leader tells FvH Podcast
Pride in Football co-chair Rishi Madlani says he feels PL’s 2024 campaign activation lacked preparation and education; Madlani joins guests from LGBTQ fan groups Proud & Palace and Rainbow Devils on new episode of Football v Homophobia Podcast; listen now on Apple, Spotify etc…
The co-chair of Pride in Football believes better preparation for the annual Rainbow Laces campaign would have avoided several knotty problems for its LGBTQ+ supporters groups.
Rishi Madlani says an overemphasis on rainbow visibility, compared with the education and engagement work needed to underpin the annual activation, had consequences for LGBTQ+ fans that are still ongoing.
Madlani is joined on the latest episode of the Football v Homophobia Podcast by three other guests from fan groups directly impacted by Rainbow Laces challenges which quickly escalated into controversies.
Emma Franklin-Wright, the co-chair of Proud & Palace, and Randy Boose, a fellow member of the Crystal Palace group, discuss the fallout from Eagles captain Marc Guehi’s decision to twice wear a rainbow armband with additional messages about Jesus written on it.
Eric Najib, the co-chair of Rainbow Devils, talks through the impact of a decision taken at Manchester United before the home game against Everton, when Pride-themed jackets due to be worn by the players as they walked out at Old Trafford were ultimately left in the dressing room.
Najib is also the first-team manager of Stonewall FC, the world’s most successful LGBTQ+ club, taking charge of games in the 11th-tier Middlesex County Premier Division. He says that, in his experience, the Rainbow Laces campaign is now rarely spoken about or seen at grassroots level, 11 years after it began.
Madlani, who is a committee member of Leicester City’s Foxes Pride, tells the podcast that he has concerns over how much groundwork was done for the LGBTQ+ inclusion campaign in the build-up to the Premier League’s dedicated activation week.
“I think you need the visibility and the education,” he says. “That needs to come hand in hand, and this year was unfortunately just all about visibility.
“When I did my ring around the fan groups to see who was doing Rainbow Laces stuff two weeks before, most clubs hadn’t spoken to their fan groups about it. The fan groups had barely thought about it themselves, up to a point.”
Always lovely to see the @FoxesPride gang but especially lovely when we have seen some fight to get back to 2-2 💪🏾
— Rishi Madlani (he/him) (@RishiMadlani) December 8, 2024
Lovely to be joined by members of @NewYorkFoxes & other new faces 🙌🏾💙🦊 #LeiBHA https://t.co/MkhvWnCvTk
Madlani says seeing clubs displaying Pride colours in stadiums is still important as it makes LGBTQ supporters feel “valued” – but what matters more is amplifying their voices.
“Hearing our own fans, that’s what resonates with people,” he adds. “The campaigns need to connect up better to help those voices be heard.
“The Premier League has just, this year really I think, dropped the ball on this because it was just visibility and that’s why we’ve had some of this all flare up in this way.”
For Proud & Palace, conversations are continuing behind the scenes with officials at their club in an attempt to “better understand the intent” behind Guehi’s armband messages.
On the podcast episode, Franklin-Wright and Boose provide their reflections after a 10th birthday celebration supported superbly by Palace was followed by a period of intense pressure on the group, which like all LGBTQ+ fan groups is entirely volunteer-run.
Franklin-Wright also shares her frustration of over how the “good work happening underneath the rainbow flags” has been overshadowed by wrangles over faith.
“The issue with Rainbow Laces, and what’s been brewing for a long time, is the mandatory and reductive nature of it,” she says.
“It means you’re putting all this pressure on one player, one captain to to do this, and it only takes one refusal and you’ve got the headline that the media are always going to run over ‘club academy does good LGBTQ+ inclusion workshop’.
“That’s not going to get loads of clicks but ‘player refuses to wear armband’ is, so you end up in this mess.”
She adds: “It’s a shame, because then you also have great allies like Aaron Ramsdale whose perspective and conversation on his relationship with his brother is getting totally lost in a lot of sensationalist noise.
“I think the Premier League probably needs to be honest with itself about the goals it sets itself for Rainbow Laces. Right now, it feels like it’s a marketing exercise to convince people, sponsors and fans that it’s an inclusive league, maybe to draw attention away from some of the decision-making around club ownership and governance in the game.
“Is this just a PR exercise to say, ‘look, aren’t we inclusive’ – or is this a campaign to actually change opinions, and change hearts and minds of football fans in the stands and allow more space for the LGBTQ+ community to show up in English football?”
Also on the podcast episode, the panel discuss the effect on Rainbow Laces of the shifting political climate and increasing social media toxicity; experiences and statistics related to anti-LGBTQ language and behaviours lower down the pyramid in grassroots football; why the game’s calendar feels disjointed on this part of the ED&I picture; and expectations for the Football v Homophobia Month of Action in February 2025.
Listen to the episode in full here, and visit the Football v Homophobia website now to sign up as an FvH Champion for the February 2025 Month of Action, and to access education and resources.
Further reading…
These Rainbow Laces moments lifted up LGBTQ people in football (Sports Media LGBT+)
Short hair, who cares? Footballers discuss misgendering and Rainbow Laces in women’s game (Sports Media LGBT+)
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