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."
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mr Soul '68
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.
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
I agree with their decision
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.
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.
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.
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
An interesting contribution to the debate from Wilfred Zaha: https://www.sportbible.com/football/...ading-20210212
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Taunton Blue Genie
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.
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
Quote:
Originally Posted by
UNDERHILL1927
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.
Re: Brentford to stop taking a knee
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Taunton Blue Genie
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.