Shrewsbury Town captain to wear rainbow armband in friendly against Qatar

The club have been criticised for arranging the friendly

Shrewsbury Town have confirmed their club captain will wear the rainbow armband during their upcoming friendly against a team from Qatar. The League One side have received criticism from their LGBTQ+ supporters' group, Proud Salopians, who said they were "disappointed" with the decision to arrange a friendly against Qatar SC in Spain. A statement from the fan group said: "Whilst we have no animosity towards the fans, players or officials of Qatar SC, we feel strongly that the club ultimately represents a country with worrying stances against the LGBTQ+ community, women's rights and overall human rights." https://twitter.com/salopianpride/status/1542055454745960449

Shrewsbury Town revealed they had spoken to their LGBTQ+ fan group

Shrewsbury later responded and after speaking to the fan group, confirmed that nominated captain for the game would wear the rainbow armband as a way to 'show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.' They said: "Through our continuous open dialogue with Proud Salopians, our LGBTQ+ Supporters group, we have discussed the training game and for this match, our captain will be wearing the Rainbow Laces captain's armband to show solidarity with our LGBTQ+ community. The Club will also continue our dialogue with Proud Salopians and other members of our Salop For All group on this subject. "There is no place in society for any form of discrimination and Shrewsbury Town FC is an inclusive/community and family club that works very closely with all of our supporters to be inclusive of the nine protected characteristics of equality." Proud Salopians responded once again, welcoming the decision to wear the armband and also revealed that they asked for the club to wear warm-up t-shirts but they wouldn't have arrived in time. https://twitter.com/salopianpride/status/1542213984094507010   Championship side Watford recently cancelled their friendly with the Qatari national team after they received backlash from several supporters. Related links:

• Watford cancel Qatar friendly amid backlash from fans’ group
• Qatar beaten by Northern Irish side Linfield in friendly
• Gary Neville criticised for filming David Beckham Overlap episode in Qatar