Clubs set to drop Black Lives Matter badges on their jerseys when season begins
- The Clubs agreed to have the badge on their jerseys during Project Restart
- The League planning to drop the badges and are planning to champion the movement in other ways
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Clubs set to drop Black Lives Matter badges on their jerseys when season begins.
English top-flight clubs are set to drop the controversial Black Lives Matters slogan from players’ shirts when the delayed 2020-21 season begins next week.
All 20 clubs showed their support for the global anti-discrimination campaign by carrying the BLM logo on their kit during every game of Project Restart.
The clubs will discuss plans for another anti-discrimination campaign at their shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, which as reported will also feature a vote on how the season should be curtailed in the event of another shutdown.
Players will be permitted to continue taking the knee if they wish, as Arsenal and Liverpool did before last weekend’s Community Shield, but that is likely to be left as a matter for individual clubs rather than being mandated by the Premier League.
The inspiration for the BLM slogan came from a meeting of the top-flight captains in June, with the clubs initially printing the words on the back of shirts in place of the players’ names before shifting to a BLM badge on the shirt sleeve, but a well-meaning gesture of solidarity following the shooting of George Floyd proved to be controversial.
The Premier League have taken other steps to support greater diversity and in July appointed Paul Cleal as an equality advisor to their Board, with a brief to advise on anti-discrimination policy, programmes and the progression of BAME coaches and executives within the league.
