Jonesy3 wrote:

Kairdiff Exile wrote:I think the excellent announcements preceding it have helped - made it very clear that it's a stance the players support and they'd appreciate the backing of the fans. Impeccably observed at both the Southampton and Orient games.

Agree 100% with this. I'm a white man in my late 50s. I've never experienced abuse because of the colour of my skin.
I'll continue to stand and applaud as long as the players want to do it. I've no problem with others not agreeing - just don't applaud. Booing is something I do have an issue with. Why would you do it?

I feel the Booing is out of order. And if people want to show their support by applauding it is up to them. But I do feel it is getting a bit too much now every game. How many other sports show their support.

Torquay Exile wrote:

Jonesy3 wrote:

Kairdiff Exile wrote:I think the excellent announcements preceding it have helped - made it very clear that it's a stance the players support and they'd appreciate the backing of the fans. Impeccably observed at both the Southampton and Orient games.

Agree 100% with this. I'm a white man in my late 50s. I've never experienced abuse because of the colour of my skin.
I'll continue to stand and applaud as long as the players want to do it. I've no problem with others not agreeing - just don't applaud. Booing is something I do have an issue with. Why would you do it?

I feel the Booing is out of order. And if people want to show their support by applauding it is up to them. But I do feel it is getting a bit too much now every game. How many other sports show their support.

How many other sports have an ongoing problem with open and clear racist abuse? Colchester keeper abused at Barrow on Saturday is another example.

Countymax wrote:My opinion is that the FA should have come up with a politically neutral gesture to highlight racism in the game. I know that the players say 'taking the knee' isn't political but unfortunately it is. Let's keep the applause but lose the knee.

In what way is it political? Players have made it very clear time and time again its not. The notion that premier league footballers are all Marxists or whatever else is laughable.

faerun exile wrote:

Torquay Exile wrote:

Jonesy3 wrote:

Kairdiff Exile wrote:I think the excellent announcements preceding it have helped - made it very clear that it's a stance the players support and they'd appreciate the backing of the fans. Impeccably observed at both the Southampton and Orient games.

Agree 100% with this. I'm a white man in my late 50s. I've never experienced abuse because of the colour of my skin.
I'll continue to stand and applaud as long as the players want to do it. I've no problem with others not agreeing - just don't applaud. Booing is something I do have an issue with. Why would you do it?

I feel the Booing is out of order. And if people want to show their support by applauding it is up to them. But I do feel it is getting a bit too much now every game. How many other sports show their support.

How many other sports have an ongoing problem with open and clear racist abuse? Colchester keeper abused at Barrow on Saturday is another example.

Can you name any sport that doesn't have a problem?

South London Exile wrote:

Countymax wrote:My opinion is that the FA should have come up with a politically neutral gesture to highlight racism in the game. I know that the players say 'taking the knee' isn't political but unfortunately it is. Let's keep the applause but lose the knee.

In what way is it political? Players have made it very clear time and time again its not. The notion that premier league footballers are all Marxists or whatever else is laughable.

Black Lives Matter activists became involved in the 2016 United States presidential election.
Could this be the start of their involvement?

faerun exile wrote:Colchester keeper abused at Barrow on Saturday is another example.

Has there been an increase in overt racist gestures of late, I wonder? It feels a bit like it, or maybe (hopefully) they remain rare incidents that are simply being reported more in the wake of "taking the knee".

Stan A. Einstein wrote: Sometimes at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon I just want to watch a football match.

Good for you. I'm sure that many players up and down the country would like to play in a football match without facing some form of racist abuse.

Taking the knee, wearing rainbow laces, wearing protest T shirts, knocking down statues etc etc

They are all just virtue signalling

None of these actions make anyone's life better

If professional footballers want to make a difference to society then they should follow the leads of Marcus Rashford and Craig Bellamy. Both made a huge personal effort in improving peoples lives with their campaigning hard work and philanthropy.

I have a lot of respect for Marcus and Craig, they have make a difference. As for the rest of their profession, not so much. Just entertain me please while I pay your salary

DT1892 wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote: Sometimes at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon I just want to watch a football match.

Good for you. I'm sure that many players up and down the country would like to play in a football match without facing some form of racist abuse.

So assuming that there are black people working in shops who experience racism presumably you take a knee every time you go shopping? Or sometimes when you enter a shop do you think: Hey, sometimes I just want to buy a pint of milk. And tell me every time you enter an Indian restaurant do you take a knee or do you think: Hey sometimes I just want to have a curry?

I'm pretty sure waiters and shop assistants get abused too. But good for you taking a knee pretty much every time you leave your house.

Come on, Stan. That's being a bit obtuse. The campaign is hardly called "Only Our Black Lives Matter".

JonD wrote:Come on, Stan. That's being a bit obtuse. The campaign is hardly called "Only Our Black Lives Matter".

Not at all. The difficulty with the post I am critical of is not on the basis that the poster disagrees with me but rather there is an implied criticism of those of us who don't support taking the knee are being, the very least, ambivalent about the issue of racist abuse.

In my view taking the knee Is, as another poster has said, virtue signaling. What colour ribbon should I display today? I would hope that it would be assumed that I am against cancer, AIDS, homophobia, racism, third world debt, and so on.

I get it when people say to keep politics out of sport. However, these days politics is everywhere even in work. I blame the professional politicians. It’s a shame.

JonD wrote:Come on, Stan. That's being a bit obtuse. The campaign is hardly called "Only Our Black Lives Matter".

This imo is where the organiser messed up, would have made more sense to had used all lives matter

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

DT1892 wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote: Sometimes at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon I just want to watch a football match.

Good for you. I'm sure that many players up and down the country would like to play in a football match without facing some form of racist abuse.

So assuming that there are black people working in shops who experience racism presumably you take a knee every time you go shopping? Or sometimes when you enter a shop do you think: Hey, sometimes I just want to buy a pint of milk. And tell me every time you enter an Indian restaurant do you take a knee or do you think: Hey sometimes I just want to have a curry?

I'm pretty sure waiters and shop assistants get abused too. But good for you taking a knee pretty much every time you leave your house.

None of that is happening, so that's completely irrelevant.

Footballers have chosen to take the knee. No doubt, if it had been stopped last season, it would've been brushed aside and forgotten about like every other anti-racism campaign that has ever existed. It's literally 10 seconds before the game. If that spoils your Saturday afternoon then that's on you.

So..if one particular player decides for whatever reason not to take the knee,,the media reaction would be zero.... Or not perchance?