New Zealand women’s soccer team won’t be wearing white shorts anymore
Koki Nagahama/Getty
The women’s soccer team said its players would not wear white shorts at the World Cup this summer.
It’s been announced that the New Zealand women’s soccer team will be scrapping their old uniform’s white shorts for teal blue instead—because no one wants to get their period on the field and have everyone know about it.
New Zealand will debut the new “kit” against Iceland on Friday and Nigeria next week and at the Women’s World Cup, which they will co-host with Australia from July 20 to Aug. 20.
“The absence of white shorts now is fantastic for women with any kind of period anxiety,” New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson said. “It’s always something that women athletes, not just footballers have had to deal with. In the end it just helps us focus more on performance and shows a recognition and appreciation of women’s health.”
The New Zealand decision follows a similar move made by the England women’s team, clubs including Manchester City and the Ireland women’s rugby team.
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“It’s really important to us as players,” said England’s Lauren Hemp. “It’s been in discussions for many years and it’s important that we feel confident whilst playing and this is a massive step in the right direction. We can feel comfortable when sometimes we might not have been if it’s your time in the month, so it’s great to move away from white shorts to not having that worry. We can just concentrate on the games at hand.”
Earlier this year, the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League said that it was switching from white shorts to black ones so players would be “more comfortable and confident” when playing.
“We must remove the stigma involved in discussing the health issues impacting women and menstruating nonbinary and trans athletes if we want to maximize performance and increase accessibility to sport,” the team’s general manager, Haley Carter, said in a statement at the time.
And you know, it’s perfectly OK if some people are fine with showing period accidents, because periods are a naturally occurring thing and no one should ever feel shame over having one. But there is still a major stigma associated with menstruation, unfortunately, so it’s also perfectly OK if you don’t want an entire stadium and broadcast audience to know you’re on your period.
White can look crisp and great for uniforms, but it really is the most impractical of all the colors, you know?
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