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Sky Sports News presenter Mark McAdam has come out in an interview with a gay magazine. The roving reporter told Gay Times that he has "battled" with his sexuality for years, revealing that he...
Sep 11, 2014 · Mark McAdam, a sportscaster for Sky Sports, has come out as gay. He also took off all of his clothes, which we're not mad at. By Cyd Zeigler | September 10, 2014, 5:21 pm PDT |. Last week...
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- Overview
- 'Hacking the system'
- A ballsy approach
- Approaching kick-off
- 'Mindblowing' moments
- A 'pub-talk' phenomenon
Rainbow Laces has an even more colourful origin story than you might think.
Men's football is currently celebrating 10 years of the campaign, but back in 2013, the very first activation had more of a rebellious streak as it looked to tackle the issue of homophobia in the game.
It was almost a non-starter. The concept had spent months stuck in marketing limbo, and when the time finally came to get the laces off the ground, there were several knotty problems to solve.
Yet the LGBTQ+ inclusion initiative has shown impressive staying power, threading its way through a variety of British sports and going on to earn global recognition thanks to the broadcast reach of the Premier League.
Rainbow Laces was introduced to the public on a Sunday night in September via social posts from a maverick midfielder, a boisterous bookmaker, and a charity that had never attempted a campaign quite like this before.
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A decade ago, at agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky in London, two of the best young creative minds in British advertising would scrawl ideas on the wall of their 'war room'.
Christen Brestrup and Bertie Scrase - known professionally in their industry as Christen + Bertie - were brainstorming for one of their big clients, Paddy Power.
Often inspired by comments from sports fans on social media, the duo were full of energy and eager to impress both their directors and the bookmaker. It was, according to Scrase, a "dream job".
Through a series of stunts and envelope-pushing adverts, some of which had fallen foul of the regulator, Paddy Power had already built a reputation for naughtiness.
The work was fast-paced, but even though Christen + Bertie were enjoying every moment, they had a desire to go deeper.
"There was this idea of 'mischief for good' and it was something we were really keen on," says Scrase.
Paul Mallon was then the editorial manager at Paddy Power, responsible for finding the right words to explain the bookie's bold stunts.
"I remember us falling in love with the big idea behind Rainbow Laces immediately," he says. "There was this thought of it going on to develop as a movement.
"There were slogans ready to go, like, 'it only takes two minutes to change the game' and 'we don't care which team you play for'.
"Paddy Power's mission to help tackle homophobia in football was genuine, and this would end up coinciding with the rise of the brand on Twitter."
The bookmaker was launching in Italy at the time and some executives were pushing for a Serie A rollout of Rainbow Laces first.
Meanwhile, within the 'Mad Men' world of advertising, there was wrangling too. Christen + Bertie were being supported by their bosses, Ben Walker and Matt Gooden, but then another agency - Lucky Generals, led by Danny Brooke-Taylor - was asked to assist in getting the campaign launch over the line.
"There was some pretty intense debate about whether it was the right partnership for Stonewall," says Richard Lane, reflecting on the discussions within the equality charity, which is still the largest organisation of its kind in Europe.
Lane was not long into his role as Media Manager when the pitch for Rainbow Laces landed in his in-tray. Paddy Power's track record of disruption and, at times, inappropriate advertising made the prospect of working with them unappealing for some.
Conversations in-house centred around the tone of that subversive slogan. "As a gay man myself, I found it funny in a tongue-in-cheek way and it didn't bother me - but I would no way speak for all gay men out there in terms of their view.
"We discussed it with staff and with many gay men and there was a consensus that it wasn't designed to mock or belittle anyone. It was just fun language designed to get the attention of a straight football fan who might have never thought about LGBT equality in their lives before.
"It did its job - it got people talking. We did receive a few letters and emails complaining about Rainbow Laces but that was not one of the top ones."
Stephen Fry, who like Barton was influential on Twitter at the time, lent his support to the slogan as the pendulum of public opinion swung favourably.
Barton's tweet began the online buzz but behind the scenes, there was a real-world mobilisation too as pairs of laces began to be mailed out across the country.
Scrase picks up the story. "They were sent to literally every single player at every club, saying 'please wear these to show support to any teammate who might be gay'. We didn't go through the Premier League or any official channels.
"Joey Barton was the first to wear them the following midweek. For lads who maybe didn't know any better, to see his face behind it was really interesting and the power of that got it noticed."
Image: The 2013 campaign promos used an impish turn of phrase to get the attention of football players and fans
Lane describes the strategy as "guerrilla tactics" and the sudden success surprised Stonewall, which was a smaller charity back then. "The phones went off the hook. It was literally non-stop for 14 hours a day, like nothing I'd ever experienced before.
"Some calls were from people working in football saying, 'we had no notice about this'. The answer we had to that was, 'well, people have been banging on about homophobia in football for decades and you've done nothing'."
After each annual campaign activation, Stonewall uses surveys to track how the attitudes of sports fans have shifted as a result.
One positive indicator of the effectiveness of Rainbow Laces is that 74 per cent of fans who saw it in 2022 consider LGBTQ+ people to be part of the sports community (up from 68 per cent the previous year), compared to 58 per cent of fans who didn't see the campaign.
Other statistics reflect ongoing challenges. Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of those responding to the most recent Walnut ICM poll said they would not confront someone making homophobic comments at a sports event.
Eye-catching visibility that encourages meaningful conversations has proved to be Rainbow Laces' winning formula.
When the campaign returned for its second activation in September 2014, a TV commercial featuring Arsenal first-team stars sending themselves up went viral, while a special edition of the Metro newspaper with a bespoke masthead on the cover and ads inside won a major industry award for its innovation.
After a lull in 2015, the campaign was revamped for 2016 when the Premier League and Sky Sports were among the businesses and brands to sign up for 'Team Pride', helping Stonewall to amplify a more broadly inclusive slogan of 'make sport everyone's game'.
Jun 15, 2021 · Describing herself as “quite a private person”, the 43-year-old was inspired by her Sky Sports colleague and Attitude sports editor Mark McAdam – who publicly came out in 2014 – to spill the tee about her experiences as a gay woman.
Apr 25, 2022 · Our Co-Chair Mark and Media officer Jay sat down with Sky Sports Mark Mcadam to discuss his experience being gay in sporting enviroment seemling hetrosexuall...
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- United With Pride
