Exclusive: Football League clubs could wear away kits at home to help colour blind fans

Clubs could be allowed to wear their away kits while playing at home next season under a rule change designed to help colour blind people.

Telegraph Sport can reveal that the English Football League plans to ask its members to vote at their summer conference on Friday on relaxing restrictions on what strip they can wear during home matches.

The proposed rule change would allow them to don a change strip if colour blind players or spectators were unable to distinguish between their home kit and any of their opponents’ kits.

The Premier League had no plans on Thursday to follow suit.

Under current EFL regulations, clubs must wear their home kit during every home match with the exception of one per season in which they are allowed to don an alternative strip.

That can include commemorative kits or ones linked to charitable causes, such as last term’s Boxing Day initiative to support homeless charity Shelter.

There are no such exceptions in the Premier League regulations and its own clubs were refused permission to join December’s Shelter initiative.

Friday's vote of EFL clubs follows a review of the league’s guidance around colour blindness in football drawn up in conjunction with the Football Association and Uefa.

The Premier League specifically addresses the issue in its rulebook and says that clubs should wear kits that provide a sufficient contrast for colour blind players, match officials and spectators.

They also have bespoke online software which allows them to identify potential clashes.

Despite this, there have been nine occasions in the Premier League in the last two seasons when, according to the charity Colour Blind Awareness, fans complained of such clashes.

This included the January 2021 match between