This Football Team Switched From White To Navy Shorts Due To Period Concerns

West Brom women’s football club made the decision to change to navy shorts after discussions with players revealed period concerns.

For athletes, the pressures of professional sport are rife – from navigating exhausting training sessions, ensuring they have plenty of recovery time, mental toughness to combat negative thoughts that might arise during a game or heckles from those watching in the stands, and resilience to overcome injury or setback and approach each game with determination and confidence. But for female athletes, added to the mix of such pressures are concerns over their period as for those who are forced to wear certain colours of a sporting uniform, playing in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators while menstruating can be a rattling experience. 

It’s exactly for this reason that West Brom Women has announced it will trade the home kit uniform of white shorts for navy as players expressed concerns about having to wear white while on their periods. After consultations and discussions with players, West Brom decided to take the initiative and change shorts colours, pledging to keep such concerns front-and-centre when designing all home kits in the future. 

As West Brom captain, Hannah George, expressed on the club website: “It’s great that the club are supporting our change to navy shorts. Representing the club professionally and looking smart in the kit is really important to us.”

Head coach, Jenny Sugarman, also added: “It’s our job as staff to find every percentage point we can to support our players to perform at their best. I’m proud the club have supported the decision to switch to navy shorts for our female players. It’s another sign of the continued integration of the women’s team across the club and recognition of a progressive and inclusive culture.”

The issue of white uniforms for female athletes especially has come under criticism in recent months. During Euro 2022, the Lionesses contacted kit manufacturer, Nike, after their shorts were considered impractical. As England’s Beth Mead said about the issue, “It’s something we’ve fed back to Nike. Hopefully they’re going to change that [the colour]. It’s very nice to have an all-white kit but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s the time of the month.”

Even outside of football, uniforms and outdated dress codes have been challenged as female athletes have highlighted the double standards or inequalities that continue to prevail at the centre of sport. This year’s Wimbledon tournament saw players question the long-standing dress code that demands all players wear white as commentator, Catherine Whitaker, expressed her desire to see the policy change. “If they had a clothing policy that affected men in the same way it does women, I don’t think that particular tradition would last. I cannot imagine going into the biggest day of my life, with my period, and being forced to wear white,” she said. 

Definitely something that affects female athletes! Finally bringing it to everyone’s attention! Not to mention the mental stress of having to wear all white at Wimbledon and praying not to have your period during those two weeks. https://t.co/PzyHnPlSJk

— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) May 31, 2022

The comments were reinforced by player Monica Puig, who revealed in a Tweet the “mental stress of having to wear all white at Wimbledon and praying not to have your period during those two weeks.” It gave pause for thought for audiences and male players alike to consider the hardship and added strain on the sport’s female stars as many are now encouraging Wimbledon to reassess its uniform policy and make a change.