The NCAA announced on Thursday that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved rules to allow student-athletes in all sports to wear patches on their uniforms to support social justice issues.
Student-athletes will be allowed two places on the uniform, one on the front and one on the back, to express support and voice their opinions.
The patch on the front, which most sports already allowed, as authorized by the school or conference, may be a commemorative/memorial patch (names, mascots, nicknames, logos and marks) intended to celebrate or memorialize people, events or other causes. The patch must be placed on the front or sleeve of the uniform. While not all team members are required to wear the patch, they must be identical for those who choose to wear them.
The second location is on the back of the uniform where the player name is traditionally located and, as authorized by the school or conference, will allow names/words intended to celebrate or memorialize people, events or other causes. The names or words may vary by players on a team.
This decision by the NCAA reflects a move seen by many professional sports leagues since returning to action. The NBA and WNBA allowed its players to wear messages of social justice on uniforms, replacing last names. The WNBA — which dedicated its season to Breonna Taylor — played its first games last week with Taylor’s name across the back of each jersey.
UNC coach Mack Brown said earlier this summer that his football staff intends to keep listening to players about what issues are important to them.
“We’ve always listened to players, we’ve always wanted to understand who they were,” he said. “A lot of times I’ve gotten criticism for being too much of a players’ coach and being their buddy. That’s not the case. We’re very disciplined. But at the same time we’re all ears. We want to listen, we want to learn.”
Brown spoke of his responsibility to the players and that his impact on them goes far beyond what happens within the football facility.
“My responsibility goes beyond our team and the little bubble environment we have in our dressing room,” Brown said. “I’ve said this many times: If the United States and the world would handle diversity and race and equality and fairness like our dressing room, we’d have a wonderful world. I don’t know why it can’t be that way. Our goal should be that it gets that way.”
The UNC basketball program also posted a video this offseason featuring head coach Roy Williams and former players across many generations, each voicing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The North Carolina basketball program, our family, our current and former players, believe black lives matter,” Williams said in the video. “And it’s critically important that we don’t just believe it. We must stand together and loudly and clearly demand that we as a country–and the world–embrace the fundamental human right that black lives matter.”
Say it with us ➡ Black Lives Matter. pic.twitter.com/JrEdvqjncx
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) July 6, 2020
The final player to appear on the video was none other than Michael Jordan himself.
“Systemic racism has to stop now,” Jordan said. “We must take the time to listen and educate our family, our friends, our children on social injustice and racial equality. Black lives matter now more than ever before. We have to get this right. So please take time to educate yourself and improve the lives of many people.”
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