The NFL will ease up on its rule banning personalized cleats for Week 13 and players are already lining up to promote a charity of their choice.
According to USA Today, 428 players have already signed up to display a cause near and dear to them.
The charity must be approved by the NFL by Week 13 so the league can “determine the legitimacy of the cause.” The players also will be required to donate their cleats after the game and all proceeds from the auction to the charity or cause they are promoting.
The move by the league isn’t in response to recent national anthem protests, however, according to NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility Anna Isaacson.
“This is an opportunity we’ve been talking about and planning for more than a year,” Isaacson told USA Today. “There are hundreds of players throughout the NFL who are deeply passionate about their causes and charities, and we’ve heard directly from them asking if there could be an opportunity to give some life to the causes they care about. So we asked ourselves, how can we showcase what these players are passionate about, the causes and charities they are interested in?”
In recent seasons, numerous NFL players have been fined for wearing personalized cleats, including those that support causes or charities. New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who has borderline personality disorder, wore neon green cleats in October 2013 in an effort to raise awareness for Mental Health Awareness Week. He was fined $10,500 by the NFL.
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward was reportedly fined $5,787 in 2015 for wearing eye black that read “IRON” and “HEAD” in honor of his late father, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who played in the NFL for 11 seasons and died from bone cancer in 2006 at age 39. Heyward wore it again the next week and was set to receive a fine of more than $11,000 but after a discussion with the league, the fines became “significantly less.”
The NFL fined Steelers cornerback William Gay for wearing purple cleats in 2015. Gay, whose mother was killed in an act of domestic violence, was trying to raise awareness of the issue. The league also fined his teammate, DeAngelo Williams, who wore eye black containing the breast cancer symbol and the phrase “We will find a cure.” Williams lost his mother and four aunts to breast cancer.
Despite threats of fines, Tennessee Titans linebacker Avery Williamson and New York Giants wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz wore 9/11 cleats during their season-opening games September 11. None of them were fined.
Antonio Brown said he was told by league officials to change his cleats, which had the faces of his children painted on them during the Steelers’ Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The league decided not to fine Brown when he wore cleats honoring the late Arnold Palmer on Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson wore cleats with caution tape painted on them Sunday against the Cleveland Browns to raise awareness about the issue of police brutality on minorities.
“I felt like I’ve been silent long enough,” Jackson said. “It’s a bigger problem out there in the communities, in our society, things like the type of situations[where] people losing their lives, families like that. Little kids going home and not having their parents no more because of crazy things going on; so as far as the response, whatever the response is, that’s what it is, but I felt that it was time for me to make a stance and speak up on it.”
No word yet on if Jackson will be fined.
“We don’t have the expectation that every player will be supporting a cause in the same way or even have found a cause yet that they are passionate about,” Isaacson said. “But we are very aware of the millions of eyeballs watching these games, so just think about how many stories, social issues and causes are going to come to light with this campaign.”
Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis, who launched the Defending Dreams Foundation in an effort to help underprivileged children, expects to wear red cleats when his team takes on the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 4.
“I think it’s very important to look around the league and see all the good work that guys are doing that doesn’t get enough attention,” Davis told USA Today. “Things that make news are when a guy gets in trouble. There are so many good things that never get out there, never get publicized. I know a lot of guys are excited to take part, whether you have your own charity or are honoring someone else’s. It will be nice to see there will be a platform for the good things.”
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Jake Russell
