In a bid to ease women footballers' menstruation anxieties, the New Zealand women's team has decided to wear teal blue shorts instead of white, the country's football association (NZF) said on Monday. The Kiwi women will wear the kit in friendlies against Iceland on Friday and Nigeria next week, and at the Women's World Cup, which they will co-host with Australia from July 20 to August 20.
"The absence of white shorts now is fantastic for women with any kind of period anxiety," New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson was quoted as saying by Reuters. "It's always something that women athletes, not just footballers have had to deal with. In the end it just helps us focus more on performance and shows a recognition and appreciation of women's health."
NZF's decision comes after similar decisions by the England women's team, clubs including Manchester City and the Ireland women's rugby team.
"It's really important to us as players," England's Lauren Hemp was quoted as saying by Reuters. "It's been in discussions for many years and it's important that we feel confident while playing and this is a massive step in the right direction. "We can feel comfortable when sometimes we might not have been if it's your time in the month, so it's great to move away from white shorts to not having that worry," added Hemp, a forward for Manchester City, who have also done away with white shorts. "We can just concentrate on the games at hand."
New Zealand's chief executive Andrew Pragnell said that as an organisation, "New Zealand Football wholeheartedly supports the shift away from white shorts for our women's international players".
Nike unveiled new team uniforms recently for the 13 women’s national teams it partners with, including New Zealand, the United States and England, whose players had asked Nike last year to swap the white shorts from its uniform. The new uniforms for England and most of the other countries Nike partners with do not have white shorts.
Last month, Nike had announced its newest product line, “Leak Protection: Period”, which was designed to help minimise risk of leaks while menstruating and being active.
Meanwhile, the All England Club, which hosts the Wimbledon tennis tournament, said in November that it would allow women to wear dark undershorts, a departure from its traditional all-white dress code.