Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Cricket comes together to get behind Stonewall campaign.
A diverse group of current professional cricketers have come together to record a special video message in support of Rainbow Laces weekend, which the PCA will celebrate alongside the wider game from 30 July – 1 August.
The likes of Joe Root, Steven Davies, Katherine Brunt and Naomi Dattani reiterated that cricket is a game for everyone in the short video, which you can view below.
It is the fourth year that the game has come together to support LGBTQ+ inclusion, and fixtures across The Hundred and the Royal London Cup will feature rainbow symbols throughout this weekend.
Stonewall is the largest LGBTQ+ rights charity in Europe, and the organisation’s ongoing Rainbow Laces campaign illustrates that we all need to play our part to make sport everyone’s game.
PCA Chair James Harris said: “The players and I couldn’t be more supportive of Rainbow Laces weekend. Cricket should be a sport for everyone and, although it’s a small gesture, wearing rainbow laces goes a long way towards showing that we as players stand alongside the LGBTQ+ community.
“I would encourage every PCA member taking to the field in either The Hundred or the Royal London Cup this weekend to wear rainbow laces to show their support for the campaign.”
PCA Chief Executive Rob Lynch said: “It gives me great pride to see the PCA and the wider game stand squarely behind the Rainbow Laces campaign as we reaffirm our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion in cricket as part of our wider Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy.
“We want professional cricket to be a sport for everyone, so we’re pleased to be working alongside the ECB and all professional teams to get that message out there and into the forefront of people’s minds.”
Find out more about the PCA EDI Working Group.
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
