Ruben Amorim says he played no role in Manchester United’s decision not to wear LGBTQ+ supportive jackets last weekend but believes the club and players handled the situation in a “good way”.
The Athletic reported that United’s players scrapped plans to wear the Adidas-produced warm-up jackets before the Premier League game with Everton on Sunday after defender Noussair Mazrouai refused to join in with the gesture.
Mazraoui, a practicing Muslim, informed his team-mates his preference not to do so was because of his religious beliefs with the team then deciding that no players would wear the tracksuit so that the 27-year-old would not be the only one seen publicly to be declining to wear it.
Amorim, the club’s head coach, said that he played no part in the decision not to wear the jacket but supported the players’ choice.
“It was a group decision as players as it should be and and then there’s three difficult things to manage,” the Portuguese said. “On one side it’s club values and I think all can agree that it’s not an issue but then you have religion which you have to respect.
“It’s our values to respect other opinions. And then the third thing is the group thing, I won’t leave Nous (Mazraoui) alone, we are a team.
“The majority of the players believe in one thing but they saw one guy alone and said let’s be together. It’s three things we have to manage and respect, it’s a hard issue to address. I think we did it in a good way. This club represents…we need to respect everything but we also to respect the religion of Nous and his culture.”
The Athletic understands that not every United player was supportive of the decision not to wear the tracksuit and Adidas, United’s shirt manufacturer who produced the jacket, were also disappointed at the change of plan.
United have supported campaigns from Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign for promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport and have worn a pride-themed jersey to warm up in and a jacket to walk out in during previous years.
When asked if the decision would be different next time, Amorim was non-committal and insisted there was no easy answer.
“I don’t know if Nous is going to change his religion and his beliefs I don’t know, we will address at the time if it comes but it’s a really hard decision,” Amorim said. “But there’s no doubt what this club believes and fights for.”
(Top image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
