Kneeling before matches

[FGR Stroud]

Players kneeling before matches took off during the pandemic when no fans were allowed in the grounds.
I had no chance to applaud but perhaps it has now become routine and thereby partly meaningless.
One must also ask if it is still relevant now that Donald Trump is no longer President of the USA.
BLM was brought over the States and was commendable at the start, but has developed into a political and social movement.
I believe that after this distance of time, the FA should distance itself from politics and say enough is enough.
The players and clubs voices has been heard loud and clear.

 

[Si Robin]

The political movement of BLM has been all but removed from any aspect of the protests now. BLM is not on any kits, with the Premier League now having "No room for Racism" instead.

I have no issues with the kneeling, if it makes people sit up and take note of the institutional racism in this country and others, then it can only be a good thing. Like anything though, my concern is that it's saturated a bit and lost it's impact. The question really should be what's the next step and what more can be done to eradicate racism.

 

[FGR Stroud]

The political movement of BLM has been all but removed from any aspect of the protests now. BLM is not on any kits, with the Premier League now having "No room for Racism" instead.

I was unaware of progress that you mention.

 

[shoddycollins]

I'm a bit concerned about how fans might react if and when fans are back inside the grounds and the players kneel. We all know there's plenty of people about who view anything even tangentially related to the Black Lives Matter movement as some sort of endorsement of terrorism and will definitely boo. We've seen a few fans in trouble for this and Carlisle players haven't taken the knee before any match when there has been fans present.

I agree it has been a bit diluted somewhat in the transition from a protest by a single player in America to a global thing. We don't do the national anthem before every game here which is what kneeling was supposed to be reflective over and you can see players and officials just sort of, almost courtsey they're down and up again so fast.

 

[Si Robin]

I honestly don't recall the players kneeling in the two Cheltenham games I went to and I haven't noticed it on the streams either. I'm intrigued to see if we do on Saturday.

 

[FGR Stroud]

I honestly don't recall the players kneeling in the two Cheltenham games I went to and I haven't noticed it on the streams either. I'm intrigued to see if we do on Saturday.

The players knelt before Tranmere v FGR.
But I cannot remember anybody kneeling at the two games at TNL before the fans earlier in season

 

[Trapdoor]

Anybody getting upset about somebody else kneeling down needs to seriously re-evaluate their life.

"bUt AlL LiVeS MaTtEr"... -__-

 

[Super_horns]

I think it’s only in the Premier league ?

They will carry on as no one will want to be the first to stop in case they get criticism.

If it helps reinforce the message then it’s a good thing .

 

[hellogregory]

I'm a bit concerned about how fans might react if and when fans are back inside the grounds and the players kneel. We all know there's plenty of people about who view anything even tangentially related to the Black Lives Matter movement as some sort of endorsement of terrorism and will definitely boo. We've seen a few fans in trouble for this and Carlisle players haven't taken the knee before any match when there has been fans present.

I agree it has been a bit diluted somewhat in the transition from a protest by a single player in America to a global thing. We don't do the national anthem before every game here which is what kneeling was supposed to be reflective over and you can see players and officials just sort of, almost courtsey they're down and up again so fast.

Yes they have and the Brunton Park crowd including myself applauded it.

 

[shoddycollins]

Yes they have and the Brunton Park crowd including myself applauded it.

There was one game I missed kick-off, presumably that was the one.

 

[hellogregory]

There was one game I missed kick-off, presumably that was the one.

Stevenage at home was the game. Yeah it was a good applause. Don’t think I heard anyone vocally against it.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

They did it before one of our games (Tranmere I think) and about two people started booing but bottled it when they realised they were the only ones. If it makes racists self-conscious about their views then that's a good thing.

 

[valefan16]

Some games we’ve done it some we’ve not. Not sure why we do it like that.

Personally think it’s past it’s time now and need to focus on the problem in hand which is the racism itself.

 

[Laker]

We weren’t doing it until we played Colchester at home. They requested to do it and we joined them. Then a handful of our fans booed at that game and we’ve then committed to doing it throughout now. The club basically came down hard on it and banned anyone it could identify as having booed.

It’s really split our fanbase online. Well when I say split, I’d say around 30-40% are in favour of kneeling, 5-10% are against and the rest either haven’t voiced their opinions or don’t care.

Personally I’m in favour as I don’t associate kneeling with the political movement and anything in favour of protesting against racism of any kind is a good thing. I also believe that in booing the players taking the knee that you are either racist or effectively accusing them of being members of the political movement. Neither of which seem logical to me and it seems to me that anyone booing this really have their priorities mixed up.

 

[Si Robin]

In a way, I welcome the booing. It shows the bigots up for what they are and means it gets talked about again and shines a light on the issue at hand.

 

[Chris FGR]

I would boo anyone booing.

 

[Casey]

Kneel or don't kneel. I dont care.

And thats the problem. Whereas it was a bold political statement it now seems just to be something that happens before a match that most of us ignore.

Casey