TORONTO — The CFL will again look pretty in pink.
For the second straight year, CFL players will be wearing pink-coloured items in league games this month in an effort to help raise awareness for women’s cancers.
They’ll don various forms of pink-coloured merchandise in games played from Oct. 12 through to Oct. 20 as part of the CFL’s initiative. The program will kick off Oct. 12 with the B.C. Lions visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium and conclude with the Ticats facing the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium nine days later.
Reebok will provide CFL players with pink gloves, wrist bands, shoelaces and other items while the league will supply helmet decals. On-field officials are expected to use pink whistles while coaches and team personnel will wear pink-coloured sideline gear.
Pink merchandise will be available for sale at games and team shops as well as selected Reebok stores. A portion of the proceeds will go to cancer-related charities and foundations.
NFL players wore pink gear Monday night in the Chicago Bears 34-18 victory over the Dallas Cowboys as part of their league’s support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The NFL kicked off its program in 2009 and has had game officials and coaches get involved while also having the end zones of its fields decorated with pink helmets, logos and goalpost pads.
Major League Baseball has sponsored a similar event each Mother’s Day, allowing players to wear pink-coloured items and even use pink bats in support of breast cancer awareness.
In 2010 some CFL players wanted to wear pink-coloured items during league games to honour family members who had succumbed to cancer or survived it. But the league’s board of governors prevented them from doing so initially because it felt the practice wasn’t part of a more integrated league-wide plan.
Last year, the CFL unveiled its program to help raise awareness for women’s cancers which included allowing its players to wear pink-coloured items during league contests.