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Rainbow Laces: Everyone’s game
- Updated: November 21, 2016
“Hope I wasn’t that boring!” tweeted Liam Rosenior, after his guest pundit appearance on Sky Sports’ coverage of Brighton v Aston Villa last Friday night.
The general response? Far from it. “Talking sense”, “fair and honest” and “impressive use of the word ‘gesticulating'” were just some of the comments made on the merits of Rosenior’s analysis. Fulham’s Sone Aluko was critical – but only of his former Hull team-mate’s moustache. “Used to enjoy arguing football with him,” he added.
Rosenior, now 32 and currently sidelined with an ankle injury, is proving to be the proverbial ‘chip off the old block’, with a national newspaper column and TV appearances, and father Leroy having been a familiar football voice in broadcast and print for several years.
And like his dad, who is a vice-president of the Show Racism the Red Card educational charity, Rosenior is also well worth listening to when it comes to matters beyond tactics and technique.
In the build-up to the Villa game, Liam was a special guest on Brighton fans’ radio show/podcast The Albion Roar. When asked what factors persuaded him to sign for the Seagulls in June 2015, he emphasised both the ‘identity’ of the club and the city as being crucial to his decision.
“Brighton’s sense of personality is very strong. There’s a real way of thinking, a way of living down here,” said Rosenior.
“I immerse myself in living in Brighton. It’s a liberal, open place where people are respected no matter where they come from, whether they’re gay, straight, black or white. I resonate with that.”
Hearing diversity embraced in such clear terms by a professional footballer is still somewhat rare – and therefore rather refreshing. Rosenior’s comments are timely too, as the Rainbow Laces campaign builds towards a weekend of action on November 26-27.
Now in its fourth year, the campaign seeks to raise awareness of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport, and is run by Stonewall, the UK’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality charity.
The respect Rosenior speaks of has become part of the culture in Brighton, often dubbed the ‘unofficial gay capital of Britain’ – and by extension at Albion, who are ardent backers of the city’s famous Pride parade and …
