The Premier League has rejected a proposal that would have seen all Arsenal and all their other teams play in away kits on Boxing Day, in order to raise awareness for homelessness.
The Football League has already agreed to let home sides wear away kits if they put in a formal request to do so, the powers that be in the top division have decided to go against the request made by charity organisation Shelter.
The idea is that the move will help to promote homelessness around the Christmas period, when many will be spending special moments in their homes with their families enjoying the festive period, but the FA have seemingly denied the request.
“We believe ‘home’ means everything, Shelter spokesperson Osama Bhutta said on the subject(via Football.London). “We want to use the positive power of football this Christmas, and our shared connection to ‘home,’ to raise awareness of homelessness and what we can all do to fight it..
“Everyone involved in #NoHomeKit can do something special by bringing the entire football community together to fight the housing emergency.”
Gary Neville has called for the Association to make a U-turn over their decision however, and is expecting one.
Imagine refusing a request to raise money and awareness for homelessness . A Johnson like u-turn on its way if the clubs push hard ! https://t.co/afQIRL3ROw
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) November 9, 2021
I imagine that Arsenal will be amongst those teams to push the decision to be overturned given their strong links to charities and community, while I don’t expect any of the other PL teams to have any reason for not lobbying for such a worthy cause either.
Our side will likely be donning their away or third kit regardless of the decision, with us traveling to Norwich on Boxing Day.
While we are all in our respective homes living it up over the festive period, a little bit of perspective is needed at times, and I’m sure it could go a long way if we could raise some money for the charity especially after how tough the world has been to deal with in recent years.
If you would like to donate anything to the charity, click here or you could also donate your time by joining up with one of their events.
In these hard times, it can’t hurt to come together to help those less fortunate.
Patrick
