Football club's shirt redesigned after Ian Wright backs campaign

Basingstoke United will wear the one-off shirts featuring a 'seat belt stripe'

11:53, 25 Apr 2025

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The AA Charitable Trust, which is organising the stunt, will also display the message "Buckle Up" on perimeter boards, napkins, car park flags and beermats for the game at the Winklebury Football Complex stadium.

Ian Wright with a Basingstoke Town football club kit whose match shirts have been redesigned to feature a seat belt motif as part of a road safety campaign backed by the former England striker. (Image: AA/PA Wire)

A football club's home shirt has been redesigned to feature a diagonal stripe replicating a seat belt as part of a road safety campaign backed by former England striker Ian Wright.

Non-league Basingstoke United's first team will wear the one-off shirts for Saturday's fixture against Merthyr Town.

Instead of their usual yellow kit with three vertical blue stripes, the new version has a single diagonal blue stripe across the front.

The jersey also contains an AA logo on the arm to represent the organisation's Charitable Trust, which is organising the campaign.

The message “Buckle Up” will be displayed on perimeter boards, napkins, car park flags and beermats for the game.

The Basingstoke Town football club kit (left) whose match shirts have been redesigned to feature a seat belt motif (right) as part of a road safety campaign backed by former England striker Ian Wright. (Image: AA/PA Wire)

Analysis conducted by the AA Charitable Trust found 43% of passengers aged 17-29 who died in crashes on Britain’s roads between 2019 and 2023 were unbelted.

The figure for passengers of all ages was 27%.

The analysis also found 29% of young drivers who die in crashes are not wearing a seat belt, of which 95% are male.

Director of the organisation Edmund King said: "For any football club, young players are their most valuable assets and therefore ensuring they stay safe on the roads is vitally important.

"Research shows that teenagers are most at risk from serious injury as passengers or drivers when unbelted," he added.

"Even on short journeys it’s absolutely vital to wear your seat belt.

"We hope this initiative will inspire other clubs to consider backing our campaign and even switching their kits for a one-off match."

Footballer Ben Cook who is wearing a Basingstoke Town football club kit whose match shirts have been redesigned to feature a seat belt motif as part of a road safety campaign backed by former England striker Ian Wright. (Image: AA/PA Wire)

Wright, who appears weekly on The Overlap's Stick To Football podcast alongside Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and Jamie Carragher, said: "Wearing a seat belt is the simplest thing you can do to protect yourself when you’re in a car, no matter if you’re driving or getting a lift.

"It reduces the risk of death in a crash by 50%."

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Drivers can be handed a £100 on-the-spot fixed penalty notice if they are caught not wearing a seat belt when they are supposed to.

If the case goes to court they could be fined up to £500.