Liverpool’s and Manchester United’s Premier League game on Sunday sparked “hundreds” of complaints from supporters stricken with color blindness, with United’s green stripe proving impossible to distinguish from Liverpool’s traditional red shirts.
Despite using a white-black switch kit for most of the games this season, when their red shirts clashed with the home team, United wore an outfit described by kit supplier Adidas as “legend earth green” for the 0-0 draw at Anfield . .
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And with many television viewers unable to tell the two teams apart, the British Color Blind Awareness organization saw its Twitter account, @colourblindorg, flooded with fans struggling to watch the match.
“It happens all the time; we’ve had a bad year this year,” Kathryn Albany-Ward, Color Blind Awareness CEO, told ESPN. “We’ve had Southampton vs. Sheffield United and recently Liverpool vs. Man United. We’ve had a lot.
“But Sunday was the most kitclash complaints we’ve ever had. We’ve had hundreds and spent all morning trying to collect them all.
“It’s a very common problem, and it’s a big problem because of the number of people affected. It affects 1 in 12 people.”
Sources have told ESPN that the Premier League uses computer software to ensure that all matches are played with clubs that are identifiably wearing different colors. The software was recently updated with a “color blind friendly flag” to determine the best kit combinations for color blind individuals.
In 2015, the NFL issued a statement pledging to increase its exposure to color-blind fans after hundreds of complaints following a “Color Rush” match between the all-red Buffalo Bills and the all-green New York Jets. Albany-Ward is calling for a similar move in English football.
“The NFL game was played and it was a red kit against a green kit and all of America, which is colorblind, rebelled,” Albany-Ward said. “That’s about 14 million color blind people.
“The NFL had to change their kit regulations to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“I think in the UK they do have to move up a lot. People are aware of it, but they don’t keep the information long enough to do anything about it.
“If a big broadcaster took this on and presented to the right people what it’s like to be color blind and watch a game. I think that would be great.
“The Premier League is acting, and they are notifying the clubs because they know when these clashes will occur. I know because I was in touch with them today.
“They told United about this problem and United suggested a solution, but what they decided was not enough.”
Sources have told ESPN that United were made aware of a kit problem by the Premier League 10 days before the Liverpool game, but only asked to change socks from green to white.
To put things together for United, which once changed an all-gray kit at halftime in a Southampton game after manager Sir Alex Ferguson lamented his players couldn’t see each other, midfielder Bruno Fernandes is currently an ambassador for color blindness. awareness in Portugal
“As part of our EU project, the Portuguese FA has two ambassadors, one of which is Bruno Fernandes, but I don’t think he is aware of this clash with equipment,” Albany-Ward said. The other is Jessica Silva, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais.
“They are aware of the problems it can cause, and they want to raise awareness of it, which they did on color blindness awareness day in September.”