The Orlando Pride weren’t due for an away kit change in 2023, but have made the move for a good reason.
The NWSL club has ditched the white shorts that were part of their “Luna” kit in 2022 in recognition of player comfort concerns over having to compete while menstruating.
“The reasons behind not wanting to wear white shorts are clear, but it is unfortunately something that hasn’t been addressed until recently,” said Pride midfielder Erika Tymrak in a club statement on the change. “I think it’s a big step for us as a club to make players feel comfortable and allow us to focus solely on competing.”
In a move that the club says is a league first, the Pride will do away with white shorts in training and throughout all levels of their girls’ academy set-up as well.
“We must remove the stigma involved in discussing the health issues impacting women and menstruating non-binary and trans athletes if we want to maximize performance and increase accessibility to sport,” said recently-appointed Pride general manager Haley Carter. “The experience that players have and the safety and comfort they feel when wearing an Orlando Pride crest is a critical area of focus for us.”
Orlando is not alone in making the shift. Back in October, Manchester City announced a change that will begin with their 2023-24 kits, and have informally begun using burgundy shorts with their customary sky blue home shirts. Equalizer Soccer reports that the U.S. women’s national team will wear navy blue shorts whenever possible at this summer’s World Cup, while England players have told the FA and Nike that they’d like a change to the country’s traditional all-white home kit.
“This is a commendable move by the Orlando Pride and one that will surely improve the level of comfort amongst its players,” said Dr. Christine Greves, the Pride’s team OBGYN. “As a society we need to continue to work to normalize talking about the health and well-being pertaining to the female body and the period is a huge part of that. The more we do that, the more we’ll be setting up our athletes for success both on and off the field.”
Orlando will debut the new kit on March 26, in what will be a 2023 season-opening road game against the Portland Thorns.
Number color changed as well
The Luna kits debuted in 2022, and while the design was lauded for connecting to Florida’s history with NASA space launches, they ran into a problem in photos and television broadcasts: the pale gray numbers designed to match the lunar pattern on the kit were borderline invisible.
Fans and media were bedeviled trying to identify a given player, relying on other options like hairstyles and shoe choices. The problem was particularly bad before the NWSL implemented some improvements to their broadcast quality mid-season.
Reflecting that reality, and to match the change to black shorts, the Pride have also done away with the unreadable numbers and name coloring in favor of a far more legible black option.
While the change in shorts is a more serious matter, the Pride had some fun with last year’s issues with kit legibility:
So we heard you all had some opinions about our Luna kits 👀 pic.twitter.com/ivOvqUgwd2
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) February 28, 2023
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