Access to sport for people with colour blindness

What is colour blindess?

Colour is seen through three types of cone cells in the eyes, which absorb red, green or blue light. Colour blindess or colour vision deficiency (CVD) occurs when one of these receptors does not work properly.

As a result, people with CVD find it difficult to identify and distinguish between certain colours. For most people with CVD, this is a difficulty distinguishing between shades of red, yellow and green.

How many people does it affect?

It affects around 1 in 12 men and around 1 in 200 women.

In 2022, Tackling Colour Blindness in Sport (TACBIS), a three year project funded by the European Commission, conducted a study into the prevalence of CVD amongst elite athletes (PDF). This study assessed 118 male football athletes for CVD from professional clubs and National teams from the United Kingdom and Denmark. It reached the following conclusion (p.2):

The results from five teams so far indicate that 7 football players at elite level have some form of CVD. This equates to 1.5 players in a squad of 25 players and at least one in every team screened. The publication of this information is particularly relevant prior to the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup where, extrapolating these results, it can be reasonably expected there will be approximately 50 colour blind players amongst 32 squads of 26 players.

What effect does it have on accessing sport?

Currently, the majority of campaigning and research on CVD and sport has focused on football and rugby union. The Football Association (FA) and UEFA’s Colour Blindness in Football document (PDF), suggests that there are five main issues surrounding CVD and football (p.20): kit clashes (ie colours of the home and away kit); equipment (ie cones and footballs themselves); at grounds/stadia (ie facilities/wayfinding/safety signage/type of lighting); and TV coverage (ie inaccessible TV graphics or long-distance camera angles).

World Rugby’s guidelines, issued in September 2021, identified similar implications. Additionally, the organisation noted: information (ie websites and buying merchandise or tickets online); workplace issues (ie understanding colour-coded spreadsheets); and external stakeholders (ie sponsors and making sense of information given in colour).

Fans

The FA and the Fans for Diversity Fund jointly funded a focus group for colour blind fans which was held in November 2018 at Wembley Stadium (PDF). The primary conclusion of the session was that: “distinguishable kits and balls are key to the enjoyment of football for colour blind people” (p.12). Similarly, according to World Rugby’s guidelines, the most common frustration for fans is “kit ‘clashes’”.

The football fan focus group participants also outlined two additional football specific issues (p.2):

1. “Understanding whether a red or a yellow card has been issued can be a struggle, especially on TV coverage.”
2. “None of the group were previously aware that substitution boards had two different coloured numbers to denote ‘on’ and ‘off’ whilst three participants were unaware there were two numbers due to their inability to see red numbers against a black background, yet this issue could easily be rectified by changing the colours used to different tones of red and green.”

Players

The results from TACBIS’ 2022 prevalence study, outlined above, equate to 6% CVD prevalence amongst elite footballers, compared to the national average of 8%. As a result of this gap, the authors contend: “approximately 25% of colour blind players are not making it to elite level, which is a problem for football as it represents wasted time and financial investment and negative mental health outcomes” (p.2).

Another TACBIS study simulated the possible in-play impact of CVD upon football players (PDF). 24 male players played 6-a-side football under conditions that aimed to simulate CVD for the participants. The authors found that there was “no significant difference in terms of self-reported performance levels” (p.5). However, the participants found three components of the game more difficult:

1. “…players found it significantly more difficult to pick-out their own teammates within colour blind simulated conditions compared to normal colour vision conditions.”
2. “…there was initially significantly more mental demand placed on players in the first colour blind simulated condition.”
3. “the trend of results infers that decision-making was detrimentally affected in colour blind simulated conditions.”

Government position

The most recent update on the Government’s position was given by Nigel Huddleston, the then Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in response to a written question on 5 July 2022:

My department has not had any recent discussions with representatives of sports governing bodies on awareness of colour blindness and steps to differentiate team colours. However, I welcome the English Football League’s (EFL) recent decision to allow clubs to wear away kits at home games next season in order to aid colour-blind people in differentiating teams. This will benefit players, staff, officials and spectators.

The Government recognises there are barriers which exist and prevent some people from taking part and we want to continue to do all that we can to tackle these. We will continue to work with our arms length bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, and sector partners to encourage sport bodies to make sport more accessible to spectators, participants and the workforce.

Governing body positions Safety in sports grounds

The Sports Grounds Safety Authority’s (SGSA) Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds 2018 includes an annex on CVD (PDF). This document aims to provide individuals working in the safety management and operation of sports grounds with a “basic understanding of why it is important to be aware of colour vision deficiency” (p.2).

The two main concerns raised by the SGSA are instances where information is solely conveyed by colour (ie a plain high visibility jacket to denote a steward), or instances where information is conveyed in colours in ways that may not be distinguishable. The annex contains guidance for reducing these concerns. For instance, adding the word ‘steward’ to the back of a high visibility jacket.

Football

Colour Blind Awareness, a non-profit organisation formed in 2010 to raise awareness of the needs of colour blind people in the community, worked with the FA and UEFA to produce guidance notes on colour blindness in football in 2017. Martin Glenn, the then Chief Executive Officer of the FA, described the guidelines as forming part of the FA’s commitment to “make the game as inclusive as possible” (PDF). The document is intended to help people involved with football “ensure colour-blind people are welcomed and integrated into the game”.

In June 2022, English Football League (EFL) clubs, teams in the second to fourth tiers of the English men’s domestic football league, passed a “colour blindness kit clash amendment”. Under this amendment, a home club can wear its ‘away’ or third kit where a clash may occur that would make it difficult for people with CVD to differentiate between the two teams. Clubs may also ‘mix and match’ elements of their kits to avoid clashes.

According to reports from ESPN, and other media outlets, the Premier League (the top tier of the English men’s domestic football league) introduced a so-called ‘colour blind friendly flag’ in 2021. This computer software ascertains the best kit combinations for individuals with CVD. However, it remains the individual choice of Premier League clubs to follow these suggestions. As of 2022, according to media reports, the Premier League did not appear to have plans to introduce kit regulations similar to those in the EFL.

Rugby Union

World Rugby, working with Colour Blind Awareness, introduced guidelines for colour blindness in rugby in September 2021. The Chairman of World Rugby’s introduction to these guidelines (Sir Bill Beaumont, who himself has CVD) stated that:

We exist to ensure that rugby is accessible and inclusive for all. Underscoring that commitment, we recognise the challenges that people with colour blindness or colour vision deficiency (CVD) have participating and experiencing our sport.

Alongside this, World Rugby launched a consultation on proposed new laws that would be introduced for the men’s 2027 rugby world cup. These proposed changes would see international teams wearing different shirts in situations that presented a red/green clash (ie Ireland vs. Wales).

Further reading

BBC Sport, Colour blindness in football: Kit clashes and fan struggles - what is being done?, 2 September 2020

Centre for Access to Football in Europe, 15 Steps to Create Accessible and Inclusive Ticketing (PDF), August 2020

Colour Blind Awareness, Colour Blindness and Sport (accessed 9 March 2023)

Colour Blind Awareness, Report on the Focus Group for Football Fans with Colour Blindness (PDF), 29 November 2018

Colour Blind Awareness, the FA, and UEFA, Colour Blindness in Football: How to Improve the Football Experience for Everyone Affected (PDF), June 2017

Colour Blind Awareness and UEFA, Advice When Selecting Kit Colours (PDF), September 2017

Colour Blind Awareness and UEFA, Advice Sheet for Coach Educators (PDF), September 2017

Liam Burnell and Peter Thompson, Finding Neymar: The Role of Colour in the Detection and Discrimination of Football Kits, Perception, 9 June 2021

NHS, Colour vision deficiency (colour blindness) (accessed 9 March 2023)

Sports Grounds Safety Authority, Annex C: Guidance on Colour Vision Deficiency (PDF), 2018

Tackling Colour Blindness in Sport, Resources (accessed 9 March 2023)

World Rugby, Colour Blindness in Rugby, September 2021