PLAYERS and staff from Basingstoke Town will wear multicoloured laces on Saturday in a bid to raise awareness of homophobia in football.

Seven out of 10 fans say they have witnessed homophobia on the terraces, while 43 per cent of people believe that football is an anti-gay sport, issues that lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall is trying to address.

To do this, they have launched the Rainbow Laces campaign, which encourages footballers to raise awareness of the problem by wearing rainbow-coloured laces.

Town players will wear their laces during Saturday’s game against Concord Rangers at The Soccer AM Stadium.

Town’s director of marketing, Simon Hood, said: “This is an incredibly important issue and football clubs are in an excellent position to help spread the message that homophobia has no place in sport. We are only too happy to support such a worthy cause.”

Basingstoke manager Jason Bristow added: “The momentum of this campaign is growing and I think it’s great that we’re involved. The players are fully committed and they’re looking forward to raising awareness throughout the season.”

Juliet Chard, a campaigner at Stonewall, is pleased that the club are backing the campaign.

“We love football – but we need help to change the game,” she said. “We are delighted that Basingstoke Town joining our campaign and looking forward to seeing the team wearing their laces with pride.”