England and Great Britain Hockey are delighted by the FIH’s decision today to amend the international kit regulations to allow female athletes the freedom of choice of clothing to wear at future international competitions.
In April, on the back of the changes England Hockey had made to the national kit regulations earlier this year and athlete feedback from the Great Britain women’s team on what they feel comfortable to play in, Nick Pink, England and Great Britain Hockey CEO and Hollie Pearne-Webb, England and Great Britain women’s captain, wrote to the FIH requesting that they review their kit regulations which until now enabled the wearing of skorts or shorts but not a combination of both in one team.
The FIH responded positively to the letter and the decision was made at the FIH Executive Board on 6 June that, effective immediately, female athletes will be able to make individual choices to wear shorts, skorts or skirts as long as they collectively retain the identity of the team’s kit through uniformed colours and designs.
England and Great Britain women’s team captain, Hollie Pearne-Webb, said: “We are really pleased with today’s news that we will have freedom of choice over the kit we wear in international competitions. We really appreciate the support of England and Great Britain Hockey, the FIH and the speed at which they have made this decision.
“This is a big milestone for female sport, and we can all be proud that we, as well as the next generation of athletes, will have the choice for what makes them most comfortable.”
England and Great Britain Hockey CEO, Nick Pink, said: “I want to thank the FIH for making this amendment to their regulations and providing female athletes the freedom of choice for what they wear in competition.
Earlier this year we changed the rules in the domestic leagues in England to give autonomy to the individual, encouraging players to choose what they feel comfortable in, regardless of traditional hockey uniform gender norms. Under our new domestic guidelines, players have the freedom to choose to wear skorts, skirts or shorts on an individual basis, with no requirement to wear the same item as other players in the team, as long as they are the same colour.
We’re pleased to see that, through this decision by the FIH, this choice now extends to elite athletes in international competitions too. We’re proud to be supporting the whole hockey community from grassroots to elite level.”
