Liverpool and Manchester United’s Premier League match on Sunday met with ‘hundreds’ of complaints from fans affected by color blindness, and United’s green robe seems impossible to distinguish from Liverpool’s traditional red shirts.
Despite wearing a white and black suit most of the matches this season when their red shirts clashed with the home side, United wore an outfit hailed by kit supplier Adidas as ‘legend earth green’ described for the 0-0 draw at Anfield.
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And because many television viewers can not distinguish the two teams from each other, the UK-based Color Blind Awareness organization has seen its Twitter account, @colourblindorg, fall into disrepair by fans struggling to watch the match.
“It’s happening all the time; we’ve had a bad year this year,” Color Blind Awareness CEO Kathryn Albany-Ward told ESPN. “We had Southampton against Sheffield United and recently Liverpool against Man United. We had a lot.
‘But Sunday was the biggest complaint we’ve ever had. We had hundreds and tried all morning to take everyone along.
“It’s a very common problem, and it’s a big problem because of the amount of people affected. It affects 1 in 12 people.”
Sources told ESPN that the Premier League uses computer software to ensure that all matches are played with clubs that know different colors. The software has recently been updated to include a ‘color-blind-friendly flag’ to determine the best kit combinations for individuals who are color-blind.
In 2015, the NFL issued a statement promising to improve its awareness of color-blind fans after hundreds of complaints following a “Color Rush” game between the all-red Buffalo Bills and the green New York Jets. Albany-Ward calls for a similar move in English football.
“The NFL game was played and it was a red kit against a green kit and the whole of America that was color blind got up,” Albany-Ward said. ‘It’s about 14 million color-blind people.
“The NFL had to change their outfit regulations to make sure that did not happen again.
“I think they need to get up to a great extent in the UK. People are aware of that, but they are not keeping the information long enough to do something about it.
“If a big broadcaster would tackle it, and present what it’s like to be color blind and see a match for the right people. I think that would be great.
‘The Premier League does act, and they inform the clubs, because they know when these clashes will take place. I know because I was in touch with them today.
“They told United about this issue and United suggested a solution, but what they decided was not enough.”
Sources told ESPN that United were made aware of an equipment issue by the Premier League ten days before the Liverpool game, but only asked to change socks from green to white.
To make matters worse for United, who once turned a gray kit at half-time into a game in Southampton because manager Sir Alex Ferguson complained that his players could not see each other, midfielder Bruno Fernandes is currently an ambassador for color blindness awareness in Portugal.
“As part of our EU project, the Portuguese FA has two ambassadors; one is Bruno Fernandes, but I do not think he is aware of this clash,” Albany-Ward said. ‘The other one is Jessica Silva, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais.
“They are aware of the problems it can cause, and they want to raise its profile, which they did in September on the day of color blindness awareness.”
Color blindness (also known as color vision deficiency) is a genetic condition that affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women worldwide. Although there is an extremely rare version where people can not see color at all, most sufferers will still be able to see colors, but they can confuse different shades. The most common type is “red / green color blindness” which contains the spectrum that those colors contain.