Yellow is cool both in Bodø and in Lillestrøm. That’s why Bodø/Glimt had to play with their light green third kits when they met LSK in the cup semi-final at Åråsen last week. But the colors of the uniforms were still so similar that even one of the players struggled to distinguish his own teammates from the opponents. Glimt does not say which player it is. Still completely white – For many who struggle with color blindness, the light green color is difficult to distinguish from yellow, says Bodø/Glimt’s press contact Niklas Aune Johnsen. The team will therefore have to dust off last year’s uniforms and will start in all white when they meet Lillestrøm again in the 6th round of the Eliteserien. One of the players at Bodø/Glimt has color blindness and struggled to tell teammates and opponents apart. Therefore, the team is now wearing last year’s uniforms in Sunday’s game. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – We naturally do not want to create unnecessary problems. Both for those who play, but also for those who watch and play the match. Color blindness Johnsen says that he himself struggles with color blindness and realizes how tiring it is to follow matches when you can’t tell the teams apart. – We had to find a way to solve the problem and then the solution was to go for last year’s away kit, which we didn’t really plan to use this year. Niklas Aune Johnsen himself struggled to separate the players from each other during the match against Lillestrøm. Photo: KENT EVEN GRUNDSTAD Since last year, Bodø/Glimt has had a new kit sponsor. They will thus play with logos from last year’s partners. – We are very grateful to our kit partner, Elkem, who were willing to sacrifice the space they have on the kits this match, so that we can play in the white kit, says Johnsen. Blindeforbundet: – Many people who are bothered by Johnsen say that they always think carefully about color choices, but that this time the similarity between the costumes was too similar. – We have previously played with dark suits when the other team has light suits – even if they are not yellow. It has been out of consideration for the visually impaired. It’s something we’ve always had in the back of our minds, and so the similarity here was more similar than we had thought about these particular suits. Johnsen himself stood in the stadium and noticed that it was very demanding to separate the suits from each other. – I have struggled many times without saying anything. And exactly that is quite common, according to the Norwegian Association of the Blind. – Color weakness is not something that is brought up very often. But there are many people who are bothered by it, says union leader Terje Andre Olsen of the Norwegian Federation of the Blind. – Good contrast is what makes the difference for the visually impaired and those with color blindness. It is often the best for those who can see well too. Federation leader of the Norwegian Federation of the Blind, Terje Andre Olsen. Photo: Tom-Egil Jensen / Tom-Egil Jensen He says that this is the reason why contrasts are required on websites and signage, for example. Boasting Glimt – And those who see very poorly or are completely blind depend on good sound and good commentators to have a good experience of football, adds Olsen. He thinks it is good that Bodø/Glimt took this up. – It is very good that people are willing for it to get better. Many people probably don’t think that this is a problem for anyone. When Bodø/Glimt met Lillestrøm at Åråsen in 2021, they wore all white. They also do that on Sunday evening. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB The second kit for Bodø/Glimt is black, but this is not allowed according to the NFF’s regulations as Lillestrøm has black shorts and black details on its kits. Kick-off at Åråsen on Sunday evening is at 19.15.
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Couldn’t tell the difference between the kits – playing with last year’s away kits – news Nordland
