England ‘Determined to Take the Knee’ Throughout Euros
England’s football team remains “totally united” on kneeling for Black Lives Matter going into the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, despite being met with boos by fans.
The players, manager Gareth Southgate, and others employed by the team bent the knee to the politically-charged race movement, as has been their custom ever since the death of George Floyd an ocean away in Minneapolis, ahead of a friendly match against Romania in Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on Sunday — and were met with a chorus of boos.
Southgate had said on Saturday said that his diverse side “feel more than ever determined to take the knee through this tournament” after being booed at a previous Middlesborough-hosted friendly against Austria on Wednesday.
“We accept there might be an adverse reaction and we’re just going to ignore that and move forward,” he said, dismissing the sentiments of supporters out of hand.
Being booed again on Sunday did not budge Southgate from his position, with the millionaire manager insisting that “We’re very clear on our stand” in favour of kneeling.