Big change to anti-racism gesture in English football

The English Premier League decided to abolish kneeling before each match of the next season, provided that this anti-racism gesture is limited to specific matches, according to the League reported today.

"We have decided to choose important moments to get on one knee during the season to highlight our unity against all forms of racism, and in doing so continue to show our solidarity for a common cause," a statement from the team leaders said on the league's official website.

The league said it supports the leaders' decision and will raise the level of anti-racism messages as part of its "No Place for Racism" campaign, a phrase that appears on players' sleeves.

And the English Premier League players began to kneel on one knee before each game since June 2020, when the season resumed after a hiatus of nearly three months due to the Covid pandemic, a month after the black American citizen George Floyd was suffocated by a white policeman in the United States.

Colin Kaepernick, a former player for the San Francisco American Football Club, began this gesture after kneeling on one knee during the national anthem in 2016 to call on his country to protect the rights of Americans from police violence, especially blacks, and it has become a common sight in many sports since Floyd's killing. .

But many Premier League players, including those who have been subject to racist abuse, said the gesture is losing its effect, and some right-wing politicians in Britain have criticized its association with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Instead of every game, the league players plan to kneel in the opening phase of the season this weekend, before the designated “No Place for Racism” stages in October and March, as well as Boxing Day after Christmas, on the last day of the season, and before the final FA Cup and League Cup.

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