League One Bristol Rovers unveil kit featuring readable BRAILLE in a world first… with
League One Bristol Rovers unveil kit featuring readable BRAILLE in a world first… with Joey Barton’s side set to wear it in Saturday’s season-opener at Portsmouth
- The Braille message on Rovers’ away kit reads ‘Football brings us all together’
- Former Gas player and manager Ian Holloway features in kit’s launch video
- Joey Barton’s team will wear the new strip at Fratton Park on Saturday
Bristol Rovers will wear a kit featuring readable Braille this season in a world first.
The League One team’s change colours – which will be worn for the first time in their season opener at Portsmouth on Saturday – contain the message ‘Football brings us all together’ in the tactile writing system used by the visually impaired.
As well as being incorporated into the shirt’s pattern, the message is spelled out in readable Braille on the front bottom corner.
Rovers have launched the innovative away kit as a way of promoting inclusivity for all fan groups within football.
Ian Holloway, the former Rovers player and manager, features in a video promoting the ‘Football brings us all together’ initiative.
Bristol Rovers players model their new away kit, which features a pattern of readable Braille in a world first
The Braille message reads ‘Football brings us all together’ and features on the away shirt
Former Rovers player and manager Ian Holloway features in the club’s launch video
He says: ‘Us Bristol Rovers supporters have experienced some memorable moments in recent years. But we haven’t all experienced them in the same way.
‘Some of us would have had to enjoy them through our different senses because of the limitations of another.
‘No fan should ever feel isolated. Football is for everyone. Bristol Rovers’ away shirt this season celebrates this by featuring Braille.’
Holloway adds: ‘Three of my four children are profoundly deaf, and use British Sign Language and lip reading to communicate.
‘So I speak for them, and for all of the football community, when I say: ‘Where you’re from doesn’t matter, who you are doesn’t matter, football brings us all together.”
Joey Barton’s team finished 17th in League One last season, having bounced back to the third tier at the first time of asking with a dramatic final day promotion in 2022.
Rovers have released a limited edition 250 shirts priced at £53 for adults and £42 for kids.
Rovers manager Joey Barton will be hoping to improve on last season’s finish of 17th place