Wales will don an alternate kit for their Six Nations clash in Dublin on Friday night. The combination of Welsh red and Irish green has proved frustrating for fans with colour blindness over the years. Colour blindness affects around one in 12 men and one in 200 women according to the NHS.
Red-green colour blindness is the most common form of the condition. Campaigners have called for years for either Wales or Ireland to play in a changed strip when they played each other. Campaigners have said the change was made after widespread calls for action to be taken.
World Rugby's colour blindness guidelines became policy in all of the governing body's competitions last January. Teams are now mandated to avoid kit clashes which could negatively impact colour blind viewers. The guidelines advise that one team should play in a dark kit and the other in a light kit to prevent any further issues.
According to World Rugby guidelines, teams who play primarily in a dark colour should have a light alternate kit, and vice versa. The guidelines state that primary and alternate kits should be able to play against each other without causing a colour blind kit clash. It is not known what specific colour Ireland will wear in the upcoming match.
For this year's fixture, Wales will don their white alternate kit, which was launched last summer and worn in their autumn international win over Japan. Wales changed their away shirt from black to white last season. The change was made following a historic move last year.
In last year's Six Nations, Ireland donned a white kit in Cardiff when the two sides met. Last year's move was welcomed by campaigners including Kathryn Albany-Ward, founder of Colour Blind Awareness. ' She added, 'Many thousands of fans will be delighted.
I hope it is going to continue and isn't a one-off. This benefits everyone - including the players who often don't feel they are able to speak up. ' It is unclear how many colour-blind fans are estimated to be affected by this change in the Wales vs.
Ireland match.