WWC2023: Rainbow armbands banned, England choose other 'moral' causes

July 21 - England captain Millie Bright has been declared fit for her country's Women's World Cup opener and will wear armbands to raise awareness for various social causes.

When England meet Haiti on Saturday, Bright, who had doubts about his injury, will wear the Unite for Inclusion armband.

She will switch to "Unite for Indigenous People" for the second game against Denmark. In the last group game against China, she will wear the one saying "Let's unite for gender equality".

"As a group, we were very committed to all the causes, and we couldn't separate them from each other," Bright said, adding that the team would support new causes if they made it to the knockout stages.

As at the Men's World Cup in Qatar, teams are prohibited from wearing the "OneLove" rainbow armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights.

Instead, players can choose from eight alternate armbands, and the Lionesses intend to wear a new one for each game.

"We just made a decision because we wanted to take the time to process everything and make sure we were talking collectively," Bright said.

"As a team, we know what we stand for, what we believe in, and we also know the changes we want to make. So whatever the armband, we'd like to think that our actions and our morals represent everything we believe in and stand for."

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