Speaking elsewhere in England on Sunday, at the G-7 summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Everybody should cheer for England.” He declined to say whether he would take a knee, were he in the position of the English players. A spokesman for Johnson had said Friday the prime minister “would like to see everyone getting behind the team to cheer them on, not boo.”
England went on to win, 1-0, over a Croatian team that did not take a knee. The Croatian Football Federation said Friday that it and the team “strongly condemn any and all forms of discrimination” and “also respect the right of every individual and every organisation to select the circumstances and the manner in which they will take a stand against racism and/or other forms of discrimination.”
Players in the English Premier League have been taking a knee since last summer, when play resumed following a coronavirus-related hiatus and amid widespread protests of racial injustice that began in the United States after the death of George Floyd.
Before a pair of home friendlies this month when the English team played tuneup matches ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament, there was some booing of the gesture, at which point Manager Gareth Southgate said: “We feel more than ever determined to take the knee through this tournament. We accept that there might be an adverse reaction and we are just going to ignore that and move forward.”
“I think I was just happy that the boos got canceled out by the fans cheering in the end,” England midfielder Kalvin Phillips said then, “but I don’t think it’s a great situation, especially for us players. The team spoke about it together and we came up with the conclusion that, regardless of what goes on around, we’re still going to participate in the kneeling, and I think that’s a great idea.”
A fan who said he attended those two friendlies explained (via bbc.com) that he booed what he saw as “an identity politics agenda that focuses on Black people and skin color, when as far as I am concerned we are all England fans regardless of color.”
The Football Association, England’s governing body for soccer, said Saturday that players are taking a knee “as a mechanism of peacefully protesting against discrimination, injustice, and inequality.”
“This is personally important to the players and the values the team collectively represents,” the FA continued. “This gesture of unity and fighting against inequality can be traced back as far as the 18th century. It is not new, and English football has made it very clear that it does not view this as being aligned to a political organisation or ideology. There can be no doubt as to why the players are taking the knee and what it represents in a footballing context.
“We encourage those that oppose this action to reflect on the message you are sending to the players you are supporting.”
Through seven matches thus far in the tournament, other teams that have taken a knee before their matches include Belgium, Switzerland and Wales. Belgian players heard booing as they knelt before a match in St. Petersburg against Russia, which did not take a knee. Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, whose parents immigrated to that country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, raised a fist as he knelt.
“I think racism in football right now is at the all-time high,” Lukaku said last week, citing the power of social media.
Netherlands captain Georginio Wijnaldum said Saturday that his team decided not to take a knee during Euro 2020 because it was “trying to bring attention to the issue in a different way.”
“It was quite difficult because we also want to contribute to this discussion,” he added. “But we are with the Dutch football association, who have started a project against racism.”
Earlier this year, Scotland decided against taking a knee in its international matches out of a conviction that, as Manager Steve Clarke put it Friday in a statement, the purpose of the gesture “has been diluted and undermined by the continuation of abuse towards players.”
However, Clarke added that as a show of solidarity, Scotland would take a knee when it plays England on Friday at Wembley.
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