Taking The Knee

The reason it will be forgotten about is that people of black ethnic origin make up 3.3% of the population. It’s a tiny % of the population and they are just not part of many people’s day to lives in many parts of the country. Hence attitudes will be slow to change. Albeit I do believe it’s a generational thing and for every decade that passes the discrimination will decrease
Around 3% of the population is correct I believe, so I would say the number of players of black ethnic origin in the PL and lower is way above that.
But that's ok because whatever job you're in should be about your ability and capability and nothing to do with colour, gender, religion or the rest of it. They are rightly there because they are thought to be the best people for the job but nothing's said about their over-representation.
Taking the knee supported horrific incidents in the US and was used to try and highlight everyday inequality here, but time now to move on from that particular piece of ritual at the beginning of football matches.
 


Essentially it's because they are Marxists and although it's a legitimate cause it has been hijacked IMHO and lots of people realise this, I'm in agreement with Dominic Raab in that the only time I would take the knee would be for the Queen or to propose.


Your avatar tells us all we need to know mate. It should say 'I got done by Brexit'.
 
They have certainly tried to jump on board it and it all gets very messy - even the slogan "Black Lives Matter" is different to the specific organisation, really. But the taking the knee protest comes from Colin Kaepernick, an American footballer, who took the knee (a move Quarterbacks - he is a Quarterback - can do when they are only bothered about wasting time, not gaining territory, sort of like taking the ball into the corner flag almost!) during the American national anthem at a game in 2016. Police brutality and whatever was kicking off then, as it always is, but the origins of the symbol come from that really not the George Floyd moment this year. Its very much a sporting protest, originally.

For that reason, I think it makes sense for sports people to do it - its kind of the industry way of showing solidarity. Do think, as LEs Ferdinand said, its probably having a net negative effect now, because like all protest politics, it can make people feel like something has happened, when it hasn't. That can let people in power off the hook and misdirect energy for change towards symbols. So probably should be canned, because its not doing any good anymore.

Up to them though, really.
Each to their own but Kapernick disrespected the national flag which is poor form IMO and American patriots are boycoutting Nike because of the disrespect, which I understand.

 
Each to their own but Kapernick disrespected the national flag which is poor form IMO and American patriots are boycoutting Nike because of the disrespect, which I understand.


I would argue it wasn't Kaepernick who disrespected the flag. His actions may well go on to be proven to give it even greater respect. Depends which side of the argument you are on. Probalbly also depends whether you stop to actually think about it ;) .

What he did is the very essence of what the flag should stand for.
If your symbolism means more to you than equality then your symbolism deserves to be disrespected.
 
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Why would you say that?

Are you saying that some players may be racist but go along with taking the knee anyway in case people find out they may be racist?

Its a free country last time I looked. Any person or player is more than free to not take the knee if they strongly object to this anti racist protest.

Yeah, right....
Do you mean they'd be obliged to do it? Im not sure theyll be coerced into kneeling.........its free expression to kneel....and not to.

Nobody would dare step out of line.
 
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Yeah, right....


Nobody would dare step out of line.

Correct as being outed as a racist is never a good look, unless you are looking for a promotion in the 3rd Reich.

For what its worth, I am am a big believer in killing off overt racism by making it socially Unnacceptable and economically damaging (to the racist). I realise people will still hold racist views, but hopefully they wont also hold responsible jobs with influence.
 
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Each to their own but Kapernick disrespected the national flag which is poor form IMO and American patriots are boycoutting Nike because of the disrespect, which I understand.


I would argue Kaepernick is actually a patriot, he took action to try and better his country. He then explained very clearly post game that it was done to protest police brutality against black people. He was very clear that it had nothing to do with the military, in fact IIRC he consulted a veteran first to ask what would be a respectful way of going about it.

That said I do think the movement over here is a bit of a token gesture, unless I've missed it I've seen nobody lead and say what they're hoping to achieve.

To me it's the difference between a genuine passion for a cause and a corporation trying to appear to do the right thing.
 
I would argue it wasn't Kaepernick who disrespected the flag. His actions may well go on to be proven to give it even greater respect. Depends which side of the argument you are on. Probalbly also depends whether you stop to actually think about it ;) .

What he did is the very essence of what the flag should stand for.
If your symbolism means more to you than equality then your symbolism deserves to be disrespected.
It's all about opinions and it seems he is very unpopular because of his disrespect, there are still many people that respect their flag and what it stands for, no matter the failings of their nation; I personally wouldn't burn the shirt of any England player who refused to respect their/our national anthem but I think I'd be like the thousands/millions of US patriots that won't go and pay to watch the disrespect.

 
I would argue Kaepernick is actually a patriot, he took action to try and better his country. He then explained very clearly post game that it was done to protest police brutality against black people. He was very clear that it had nothing to do with the military, in fact IIRC he consulted a veteran first to ask what would be a respectful way of going about it.

That said I do think the movement over here is a bit of a token gesture, unless I've missed it I've seen nobody lead and say what they're hoping to achieve.

To me it's the difference between a genuine passion for a cause and a corporation trying to appear to do the right thing.
Yeah, yeah. The man is an attention seeker. He has been offered multiple opportunities to get back into the NFL, and has not taken them.

In fact, the only reason he ended up out of the game in the first place was because he walked out on his contract!
 
Correct as being outed as a racist is never a good look, unless you are looking for a promotion in the 3rd Reich.

For what its worth, I am am a big believer in killing off overt racism by making it socially Unnacceptable and economically damaging (to the racist). I realise people will still hold racist views, but hopefully they wont also hold responsible jobs with influence.
Out of interest which overt racism have you witnessed/are you referring to? I think it goes without saying that overt racism will be shunned in our country, thankfully.
 
I would argue Kaepernick is actually a patriot, he took action to try and better his country. He then explained very clearly post game that it was done to protest police brutality against black people. He was very clear that it had nothing to do with the military, in fact IIRC he consulted a veteran first to ask what would be a respectful way of going about it.

That said I do think the movement over here is a bit of a token gesture, unless I've missed it I've seen nobody lead and say what they're hoping to achieve.

To me it's the difference between a genuine passion for a cause and a corporation trying to appear to do the right thing.

That's a very good point. Perhaps we need some key figures to give the campaign some direction? Get some key players in English football behind it to explain why it matters. The likes of Shearer, Lineker, Wright, Rooney, Cole, Rashford etc. Plus players from other eras.
 
Yeah, yeah. The man is an attention seeker. He has been offered multiple opportunities to get back into the NFL, and has not taken them.

In fact, the only reason he ended up out of the game in the first place was because he walked out on his contract!

He was offered try outs, no team has offered him a contract.

He used the option to leave his contract because he was no longer the starter, he'd lost the job to Blaine Gabbert during the previous season.

Whether or not he's an attention seeker is unimportant, he has been misrepresented since day 1.
 
Out of interest which overt racism have you witnessed/are you referring to? I think it goes without saying that overt racism will be shunned in our country, thankfully.

I have reported outright racism to the police at three Sunderland games and got nowhere at any of them. The reality is the police at games are just there for the overtime and are the lowest rank and they cannot or dont want to go into a potentially hostile crowd and pick someone out. I understand that. It does not mean I wont continue to, hear it, call it, and report it.
 
He was offered try outs, no team has offered him a contract.

He used the option to leave his contract because he was no longer the starter, he'd lost the job to Blaine Gabbert during the previous season.

Whether or not he's an attention seeker is unimportant, he has been misrepresented since day 1.
They put on a try-out for him, last year I think, and he didn't even bother showing up! He's more interested in being a highly-paid 'cultural icon' these days.
 
That's a very good point. Perhaps we need some key figures to give the campaign some direction? Get some key players in English football behind it to explain why it matters. The likes of Shearer, Lineker, Wright, Rooney, Cole, Rashford etc. Plus players from other eras.

I think it's more that it isn't as big of a problem here as in the USA. IMO it's piggy backing a genuine cause and then trying to cherry pick reasons for the protest.
They put on a try-out for him, last year I think, and he didn't even bother showing up! He's more interested in being a highly-paid 'cultural icon' these days.

He did show up to his own open try out the same day, his lawyers didn't like the language used about some "waiver" bullshit.

He took the league by storm for about 3 years earlier this decade, he was one pass into the endzone from winning the Super Bowl in Feb 2012. No team offered him a contract even as a backup after his release, bearing in mind the Denver Broncos had tried to trade for him the year before!

The reason nobody was interested was because he'd been totally misrepresented by the media and fans and teams didn't want the backlash.
.

Edit: Feb 2013 was the Super Bowl
 
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I have reported outright racism to the police at three Sunderland games and got nowhere at any of them. The reality is the police at games are just there for the overtime and are the lowest rank and they cannot or dont want to go into a potentially hostile crowd and pick someone out. I understand that. It does not mean I wont continue to, hear it, call it, and report it.
Fair enough and I've witnessed it myself but not for some time and not at the SoL thankfully. There is always gonna be one or two nuggets but I think in general as a society we have moved on since for instance the days of monkey chants and bananas being thrown at RP.
 
Fair enough and I've witnessed it myself but not for some time and not at the SoL thankfully. There is always gonna be one or two nuggets but I think in general as a society we have moved on since for instance the days of monkey chants and bananas being thrown at RP.

One of the games was Portsmouth away, so its not just our stewards and police that did not deal with it. Sadly on all three occasions it was our fans that were racist. I know as a veteran of thousands of games that scum like them are a tiny minority of our support and I would stand up for our fans any day of the week, but I will also try and weed out the tiny minority that let us all down.
 
Absolutely untrue
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s much-anticipated NFL workout was all but scuttled Saturday when he made a last-minute venue change, and the league responded that he was a no-show.

The 32-year-old free agent said in a statement that the venue was changed to allow the media to attend after the NFL had planned a private workout at the Atlanta Falcons training center in Flowery Branch.

Kaepernick finished his workout, then met with fans who lined the field after the 40-minute session. Sources for the athlete said representatives from at least seven NFL teams attended the showcase.

The NFL said 25 clubs were present and all 32 teams would have received video footage of the event.

“We are disappointed that Colin did not appear for his workout,” the league said in a statement. “Today’s session was designed to give Colin what he has consistently said he wants, an opportunity to show his football readiness and desire to return to the NFL.”
 

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