TROY TRADEMARKS BLACK LIVES MATTER LOGO USED ON SHIRTS

TROY DEENEY and his partner Alisha Hosannah are to trademark the Black Lives Matter logo which they designed and is appearing on Premier League shirt sleeves. They created the circular logo, with its clenched fist of solidarity in place of the letter ‘a’ in the word ‘black’, and do not want it to be reproduced without their permission on clothing or in marketing and social media. It is not for profit but to prevent misuse and help raise funds for relevant charities. Watford captain Deeney insists he is not attempting to claim ownership of an idea which emerged from the Premier League captains’ meetings ahead of Project Restart. The captains or union representatives from each of the 20 clubs met regularly by video conference to discuss a return to football.

They were all determined to unite behind global protests which followed the death of George Floyd while in police custody in the USA. Others, including Leicester’s Wes Morgan, were very active in the plans. All players replaced their names with ‘Black Lives Matter’ across the back of the shirts for the first phase of 12 games, completed last night by Manchester City and Burnley. The players’ names will return from tonight, but Premier League teams will continue to carry the sleeve logo and blue hearts on the chest in tribute to the NHS’s work during the coronavirus pandemic. Sheffield United striker David McGoldrick was the player who hatched the plan for all players, staff and officials to take a knee for 10 seconds at kick-off. It was organised by McGoldrick, Blades captain Billy Sharp and Aston Villa’s Tom Heaton ahead of the first match back and adopted by all players since.