Ahead of their visit to Deepdale, Huddersfield Town announced that they will wear a changed away kit in order to continue aid with those suffering from colour deficiency problems, more commonly known as ‘colour-blindness’.
The Terriers announced on their official website that the players will be wearing navy shirts, with white shorts and black socks for their game against 13th place Preston on Wednesday night, in line with EFL kit regulation.
Huddersfield travelled to Pride Park to play Derby on the opening day of the season, where Town wore their green third strip. Soon after the game, fans affected by CVD wrote to the board stating they had trouble distinguishing between the two teams.
Huddersfield in action versus Derby
Those suffering from CVD incorrectly absorb red, green, or blue, affecting 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Currently, 320 million people suffer with colour-blindness worldwide, being one of the most common genetic conditions.
This has affected future selection of kits for Huddersfield on away days, especially when playing teams with a predominantly white home kit. Hopefully, other teams can factor the issue into future kit designs.
CVD is an unspoken problem in life, let alone football with the FA launching a campaign in 2018 raising awareness regarding colour blindness in football and how to report any discrimination directed to someone affected by the condition.
Former Charlton Athletic and Ipswich Town midfielder Matt Holland, who is colour-blind, stated personal challenges when playing, even having to focus on other players socks to tell the opposition apart.
Despite the game finishing in a stalemate, Huddersfield’s decision to alter their jersey is a small gesture to their collective fans, sending a message that regardless of any condition or disability, we should all be able to enjoy football.
