What is a logo?
A logo is a symbol, it’s an identity, a visual representation of who you are and what you stand for, and something people can rally around and adopt as their own. It has the power to unite people from all walks of life. Whether a local community sports team or a world leader in your sport, a logo can make us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.
As a Para Ice Hockey Club, we are all too aware of barriers, whether in sports participation or in daily life and most importantly, how these barriers can be overlooked, or even looked down upon. As a club and a sport, we try to foster inclusivity, no matter who you are, where you are from etc. Our sport has people from all walks of life, no matter of gender, religion, sexual orientation, race and once we get on the ice, we are all equal.
As the LGBTQ Community is a huge part of Manchester and the North West, we wanted to show our support during Pride Month, so early in 2022 we decided to do something a little different. Usually, we do this by putting our logo on or next to a pride flag to show our support, but this year we wanted to do something that meant a little more and make it hockey related too. So, we added some Pride Tape to our logo, as we thought this would hopefully show our support in a meaningful way.
We posted the updated logo on our social media and thought it would be show some support of the LGBTQ community as a whole. However, the response was amazing! Lots of messages and comments about how great it was, including from Pride Tape themselves, which blew us away!
As well as the public support, several team members also loved the alteration, so we chatted at one of our sessions and several players asked if we could make the change permanent. We put it to the whole team to decide on, as the logo represents us all, and unanimously the verdict came back.... they all thought it would be a great idea to showcase the inclusivity of the sport.
We then reached out to Pride Tape to ask if they would be ok with us using this on our logo, as we would be putting their product virtually on our logo. They got back in touch quickly and were more than happy to give us the go ahead.
Jeff McLean, Co-creator, Pride Tape
"We are beyond honoured that the Manchester Mayhem Para Ice Hockey club has chosen to adopt Pride Tape onto their very cool and stylish team identity.
When they approached us about their idea, we were thrilled. Speaking to Pete about the importance of reflecting the club’s diversity onto their team’s jerseys with Pride Tape was incredibly flattering. We believe the Mayhem’s desire to celebrate their inclusive environment in Manchester through their sport, will inspire similar acts of positivity and love not only in the UK but all around the world.
We’re proud to not only call the Mayhem partners, but to also grow with them as friends. If we truly want to make sure hockey is for Everyone, it will take all of us to make it happen. Thank you, Mayhem, for including Pride Tape. We make tape you make it powerful"
So, we are delighted to announce from now the start of the 2022 British Para Ice Hockey League Season onwards, Pride Tape will now officially be part of our logo.
We hope this will show the open nature of our club and our sport, as mentioned, and highlight the awesome work that Pride Tape are doing to make hockey, In all its forms, even more inclusive for all. After all, as Pride Tape say, and we all agree, #HockeyIsForEveryone
