As part of Copenhagen 2021 World Pride and EuroGames celebration, Hummel has produced special rainbow warm up jerseys for Everton, Southampton and Brondby, which the sides will wear ahead of their fixtures this weekend.
Over one in five LGBTI + people have experienced homophobia or transphobia, while a report from Kick It Out has revealed that reports of abuse based on sexual orientation in professional football have increased by 95 percent in the past year. It’s clear that this is still a massive problem in modern society. In response, Danish sportswear brand hummel has rallied Everton, Southampton and Brondby to raise awareness for inclusivity in sports with a specially designed warm-up shirt, which the clubs will wear this weekend the 13 –15 August – in both men's and women's games – to support Copenhagen 2021 World Pride and EuroGames.
The new rainbow warm-up shirt is designed as a mash-up of all flags recognized by the LGBTI+ community and underpins #YouAreIncluded which is the overall theme of Copenhagen 2021. After the weekend’s games, all warm-up shirts from the three clubs will go up for auction and the revenue will be donated to local initiatives supporting the LGBTI+ movement.
The proceeds from Brøndby shirts will go to support Danish Pan Idræt, while Everton will donate the funds to their Everton in the Community’s Youth Engagement Programme with a particular focus on delivering LGBTI+ awareness elements in primary and secondary schools. At Southampton, the money raised will be donated to the Saints Foundation with the aim of helping young LGBTI+ people in the local area.
Seamus Coleman, Everton captain, said: “As a Club and a squad, we have long been committed to celebrating and promoting equality and diversity, not only in football but across society as a whole. It is so important we continue to create environments where people are able to be themselves and that we keep up the fight to eradicate prejudice. Evertonians will all be aware of the All Together Now campaign the Club has been running for the past three seasons and we’re delighted to join forces with hummel today to reiterate our support for the LGBTI+ community once again.”
Allan Vad Nielsen, hummel’s CEO commented: "It requires a solid team effort to create positive change in sport and beyond, and that’s why we are extremely proud to spread the message of openness in the world of sports by combining three of our biggest football sponsorships with our Copenhagen 2021 sponsorship.
"Football and sport are for everyone, and it is important that we stand together to celebrate this. Over the past years we’ve supported several projects to promote inclusion in sports and we intend to continue to do so. Sport has a unique ability to connect people across nationalities, religions, cultures, and genders, and with this new rainbow design we want to bring together coaches, players, and fans from different clubs. Simply because we believe that we can only make a difference if we stand together as one team.”
A limited number of rainbow warm-up shirts from Everton and Southampton will go on sale from 11 August at 8:00am on hummel.net and at the club’s own fan shops. The Brøndby shirts will not be available online but will be used for different activities around the club.
The auction of the worn warm-up shirts will start on 16 August and can be purchased on the three auction pages below:
Brøndby: odendo.dk/
Everton: matchwornshirt.com/
Southampton: Southampton Foundation
