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  • Brentford to stop taking a knee

    Is this a good or a bad thing? Will other clubs follow on from this?

    Your views please gents. Let's have a good old fashioned debate without slagging any other posters political views off....

    Brentford will no longer take a knee before games because they feel the gesture against discrimination no longer has the required impact.

    Sunday's game against Barnsley will be the first in which they have not taken part in the pre-match kneel.

    In a statement, the Championship side's squad said racism was "the opposite of what we stand for".

    "There is a clear need to continue to push for an end to all discrimination," the statement added.

    "We believe we can use our time and energies to promote racial equality in other ways."

    They also reiterated support for the club's #BeeTogether inclusivity drive, and would continue to support clubs who did wish to take a knee at games.

    West London neighbours Queens Park Rangers had already stopped taking the knee as the club felt the effect was "diluted", although they did join Millwall in doing so in a fixture after players had been booed in the Lions' previous match.

    Middlesbrough stopped doing so for similar reasons as captain Britt Assombalonga said change was now required after the initial success of the gesture, while Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha said the knee gesture was "degrading" in a recent newspaper interview.

    The taking a knee gesture was inspired by NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who decided on the silent protest against racial oppression by kneeling during the national anthem.

    "Taking a knee is just one way our players have been showing their commitment," Brentford chief executive Jon Varney said.

    "We supported their desire to do it and we now support their desire to focus on other ways to show this commitment. We have been very clear in our ambition to be the most inclusive club in the country and our players want to and will play a big part on this journey."

  • #2
    Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

    Originally posted by Mr Soul '68 View Post
    Is this a good or a bad thing? Will other clubs follow on from this?

    Your views please gents. Let's have a good old fashioned debate without slagging any other posters political views off....

    Brentford will no longer take a knee before games because they feel the gesture against discrimination no longer has the required impact.

    Sunday's game against Barnsley will be the first in which they have not taken part in the pre-match kneel.

    In a statement, the Championship side's squad said racism was "the opposite of what we stand for".

    "There is a clear need to continue to push for an end to all discrimination," the statement added.

    "We believe we can use our time and energies to promote racial equality in other ways."

    They also reiterated support for the club's #BeeTogether inclusivity drive, and would continue to support clubs who did wish to take a knee at games.

    West London neighbours Queens Park Rangers had already stopped taking the knee as the club felt the effect was "diluted", although they did join Millwall in doing so in a fixture after players had been booed in the Lions' previous match.

    Middlesbrough stopped doing so for similar reasons as captain Britt Assombalonga said change was now required after the initial success of the gesture, while Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha said the knee gesture was "degrading" in a recent newspaper interview.

    The taking a knee gesture was inspired by NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who decided on the silent protest against racial oppression by kneeling during the national anthem.

    "Taking a knee is just one way our players have been showing their commitment," Brentford chief executive Jon Varney said.

    "We supported their desire to do it and we now support their desire to focus on other ways to show this commitment. We have been very clear in our ambition to be the most inclusive club in the country and our players want to and will play a big part on this journey."
    The trouble with any thread like this is that they always break down along the political lines you want to avoid and we get pages and pages of the same sort of debate we get each time.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

      I agree with their decision

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

        All clubs mentioned recognise that additional actions were always needed, and now time for these additional actions to be the primary focus. Might just be smart PR but it's a world away from Millwall wanting to appease fans who opposed anti-racism changes.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

          It's their choice, does it mean they don't support the fight against racism? Of course not.

          Will some thick racists somewhere, use this as propoganda and a reason to further fight back against the recent wave of people taking a stand (ironic I know), probably.

          As long as we continue to fight back against all forms of racism and bigotry, I personally don't care how we do it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

            On the one hand you'll get the racists taking this as a victory as "we beat the knee!".

            On the other hand what is "taking the knee" accomplishing anymore? If the most a protest is gonna do is kneel down for 3 seconds before a football match then I imagine the people who'd like the 'status quo' to continue would be happy for them to keep doing it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

              An interesting contribution to the debate from Wilfred Zaha: https://www.sportbible.com/football/...ading-20210212

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                Originally posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
                An interesting contribution to the debate from Wilfred Zaha: https://www.sportbible.com/football/...ading-20210212
                Very investigating view and I can see where he's coming from.

                After a while the support would maybe become diluted and more patronising.

                Definitely think a refresh of how support is shown is needed.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                  Originally posted by UNDERHILL1927 View Post
                  Very investigating view and I can see where he's coming from.

                  After a while the support would maybe become diluted and more patronising.

                  Definitely think a refresh of how support is shown is needed.

                  It probably doesn't help that the BLM slogan is both an overarching sentiment as well as being attached to different and nebulous entities.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                    Originally posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
                    It probably doesn't help that the BLM slogan is both an overarching sentiment as well as being attached to different and nebulous entities.
                    It certainly divides opinion, get rid of BLM and concentrate on anti racism. That shouldn't give the veiled racists anywhere to go and they'll reveal their true sentiments pretty quickly.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                      The trouble is racism is not exclusive to black people, so taking the knee is too inclusive. There has to be a way to eradicate all racism.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                        Originally posted by Cleve van Leef View Post
                        The trouble is racism is not exclusive to black people, so taking the knee is too inclusive. There has to be a way to eradicate all racism.
                        True but recent events George Floyd etc highlighted, once again, the fight black people have to fight every day.

                        It's a hard one and I've not got the answers, all I'll do is continue to fight against racism in all forms as vocally as I can.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                          Great decision well, done the brave Bees , when you consider they in particular have developed and have a lot of good young black players .

                          Think it all as to end , before crowds return .

                          Iwonder if the 6 nation Rugby players divided response provide a catalyst to change ?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                            The problem with this gesture, is that after a while, it became the norm, an everyday thing, and so it lost some (if not all) of it's effect. Bringing it in October, for Black History Month (and coinciding with the Black Lives Matter protests) was a good move, and it certainly raised awareness of the issue, but dragging it on and on for months has devalued it, and reduced it almost to a chore.

                            When you think that Brentford have a high percentage of black players, you'd think that they would have been the one of the last clubs to drop the gesture, but the fact they're the first suggests their own players maybe question it's value.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee

                              Originally posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
                              An interesting contribution to the debate from Wilfred Zaha: https://www.sportbible.com/football/...ading-20210212
                              The way it's happened, kneeling is seen as BLM.
                              Making the point about equality and moving on:
                              Before kick-off, each team to stand shoulder to shoulder with their teammates to show it doesn't(shouldn't) matter.
                              Form a circle with alternating members of each team to to show it doesn't (shouldn't) matter.

                              all post-covid of course

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