In one of their warmup matches before this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, the English women’s national football team made a powerful statement about dementia through their jerseys.
When they took the pitch at Brentford Community Stadium in west London on Tuesday, April 11, to take on Australia, three of the players in England’s starting lineup were without names on the backs of their jerseys.
These represented the one-in-three people born in the United Kingdom today who will develop dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Society in the U.K.
The three players without names — Lucy Bronze (2), Keira Walsh (4) and Chloe Kelly (7) — stood with their backs to the camera for the traditional pregame photo (seen at the top of this article). They were also missing from the starting lineup graphics posted to the Lionesses’ social media accounts.
Different players wore nameless shirts in the second half “to draw attention to the confusion and memory loss often experienced by those living with dementia,” according to England Football. All England players also wore an Alzheimer’s Society badge on their right sleeves.
The game-worn shirts are being auctioned off to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Tuesday’s game also marked the on-pitch debut of the Lionesses’ new away kit, made by Nike. The home kit was worn for the first time during the Women’s Finalissima match against Brazil on Thursday, April 6, which England won on penalties. They’ll wear both kits during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup this July and August in Australia and New Zealand, where they’ll play in Group D along with Haiti, Denmark and China.
This isn’t the first time an English national team has helped raise awareness about dementia. In March 2022, the England men’s team played without names on the backs of their jersey for the second half of a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium. This was meant to “draw attention to how people with dementia lose precious memories, even the names of their favourite football players,” according to England Football.
