Players have been briefly taking a knee before kickoff, continuing an anti\u002Dracism gesture that began in the Premier League. And they have been booed for it
In fairness, this is one of those surprising-but-also-not things. Players in England initially started taking the knee last summer, after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota and the worldwide protests again police brutality and racial injustice. The kneeling continued through the following season, which ended last month, but most of the games were played without fans, where empty seats cannot boo.
It is all so ridiculous and depressing. England striker Harry Kane makes more than $17-million a year in salary with his club team. Rashford makes a similar amount. Jordan Henderson, Jack Grealish, Ben Chilwell: they all earn scads of money, as befits star players in a top league. The lot of them are Marxists, no doubt. “To each according to his needs!,” they shout after they score goals and punch the air with their fists.
England manager Gareth Southgate gamely tried to explain, after the first round of recent booing, that whatever political statement fans might have thought they were making, it came off like they were criticizing the Black players. He said there is no political meaning behind taking the knee. “That’s not the reason the players are doing it. We are supporting each other,” Southgate said.
And they have specific reasons to be doing that, too. This past Premier League season took place amid a steady stream of racial abuse of players on social media, to the point where it was utterly predictable before it even happened.
And that leads to a grim reality. Everyone involved is resigned to the inevitable boos that will come when England opens its tournament on Sunday against Croatia. Southgate has said they are done talking about it. The media in that country has to decide whether to give oxygen to the minority of fans who boo the gesture or pretend it hasn’t happened.
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