November 21, 2014, by Mike Munro

Hockey team stick it to homophobia

So, I bet you didn’t think there was an obvious link between sport, naked men and The University of Nottingham?

Well, normally there wouldn’t be but that may have just changed forever.

The Men’s Hockey club recently threw their weight behind a campaign to fight homophobia in sport by stripping down to their birthday suits for a one-off game. The stunt was the brainchild of Voice Your Rights, the student-led human rights campaign group at the University… and they brought along their camera.

The resulting video has gained national and international coverage amassing over 100,000 views on YouTube in a matter of days.

Of course, the University has always maintained an ambition to provide an inclusive sport programme for all staff and students and in 2015 will host a series of events to celebrate diversity in sport. The Diversity in Sport series aims to highlight the experiences of minority groups in sport, focusing on sexuality, gender, disability and race.

To celebrate the launch of the Diversity in Sport series, the University will be getting behind the Stonewall rainbow laces campaign by presenting 50 sets of laces to both Nottingham Forest Ladies Football Club and University sports teams. Supported by the Football Association, the campaign aims to fight homophobia in football.

Now that the hockey boys have done such a fantastic job of raising awareness of this important issue, they too will be presented with twenty sets of rainbow laces to wear in their university games this season.

Well, seeing as you’re here, you better take a look at what all the fuss has been about:

For more information on the Diversity in Sport series please email Claire Henson, Equality and Diversity Events Coordinator: claire.henson@nottingham.ac.uk

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