Drawing on a High Court ruling which found that the 2024 Northern Pride event “strongly supports gender ideology”, and that Northumbria Police breached their duty of impartiality by participating in it, Smith is challenging the FA’s inaction.
A statement from Conrathe Gardner, Smith’s legal representatives, said: “The Premier League asserts on its website that Premier League with Pride is akin to its other initiatives such as ‘No Room for Racism’ and ‘More than a Game’. This is not the case, since neither of those initiatives is focused on social policy change.
“Neither of them is political. Pride itself has social policy objectives including, for example, enabling people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and the legal rights which go with it, simply by professing another gender identity. Pride also campaigns for access to female sports and female-only spaces by biological men who profess female gender identities. Fifa and Uefa rules, to which the FA is subject, prohibit political messaging.
“Our client is of the view that, just as it would be wrong for the LED messages beamed around the stadium to promote messages such as, ‘Vote Labour’ or ‘Vote Reform’, so it is also wrong for Premier League stadiums to be filled with symbolism.”
Full article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/04/09/premier-leagues-pride-campaign-triggers-legal-complaint-ove/
And at https://archive.is/f1wGy