Published: 30 Oct 2024

Middlesbrough FC will be shelving their traditional red shirt on Saturday in a bid to highlight the dangers of knife crime.

Launched at Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation's Premier League Kicks session, the team will be wearing an all-white strip for the visit of Coventry City.

We are urging fans to show their support for the campaign by leaving their red shirts and scarves at home for the game to make it a No More Red day at the Riverside. Both the club and the Foundation are keen to play a leading role in highlighting the dangers of knife crime in an area where:

  • A third of all knife crimes in Cleveland involve young people aged 24 and under.
  • 57% of all serious violence in Cleveland involved a knife or a bladed weapon.
  • 186 people aged 24 and under were victims of a crime involving a knife or a bladed weapon in the Cleveland Police area.
  • 63 young people were caught carrying a knife or a bladed weapon.

The above statistics are from August 2023 to the end of July 2024

Premier League Kicks works with young people aged 8-18, providing them with access to free community activities in a welcoming and safe environment. Alongside the community aspect, previous Kicks workshops have included knife crime awareness and highlighting the seriousness of the harrowing knife crime statistics across the Tees Valley.

“This is a very serious issue affecting our community. We want to highlight this and make people aware of the dangers and the effects this has on the lives of people,” said MFC Head of Business Operations and Community Helena Bowman.

“We hope that changing our strip at the Riverside and by creating awareness of this problem, and asking our fans to do the same and not wear their usual colours, will have an impact on people and make them think twice.”

Hometown Boro player Hayden Hackney, who captained the side at Norwich last week, told The Northern Echo: “It’s massively important.

"We’re from this area, so it feels like there’s a bit more responsibility to try and raise that awareness.

"Middlesbrough Football Club can have a big impact in the community, and that’s why it’s so important that we help raise awareness of important things like this. We want the kids of Middlesbrough to feel safe.

"The No More Red will hopefully be a massive statement because obviously the majority of people will wear red at most matches. So to see very little red on the day, hopefully that can make a big impact. Ultimately, it could be the case that it even helps save someone's life."

In addition, the club are also delivering a powerful message in the form of an anti-knife crime poem, written by Academy youngster Jacob Krishnan. The nine-year-old joins staff and players from both the Men's and Women's teams in reading the words.

The one-off all-white kit, supported by the club’s Principal Partners Kindred, BOXT, and Host & Stay, along with Elms and the EFL, will be used to raise funds for the Chris Cave Foundation, a local charity which supports victims of violent crime, and for Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation's Premier League Kicks scheme. It will only be available via an auction.

The players will also wear warm-up t-shirts bearing the name of the charity, and the club's matchday programme will be devoid of colour.

Founder of the charity, Theresa Cave, said: “The Chris Cave Foundation works extremely hard educating young people on the issues around violent crime. We show the dangers, consequences and ripple effect of knife crime, gun crime exploitation and county lines.

“We are overjoyed to have been chosen by MFC to join their campaign against knife crime and to be supported through funds raised, which will be an enormous help to our work.”