In defence of footballers taking the knee

Before the television presenter Guto Harri took the knee live on air — which cost him his job at GB News last week — he explained that his understanding of the gesture had changed. Having initially thought of it as political with a capital ‘p’, he now realised that in the eyes of most people, including England’s young football players, it is simply a way of expressing your opposition to racism, as well as solidarity with its victims. It is not an expression of support for the Black Lives Matter organisation or its more controversial aims.

In retrospect, that seems pretty obvious. Professional footballers, who tend to be multi-millionaires, drive expensive cars and have young children, do not want to end capitalism, defund the police or dismantle the nuclear family. But like Guto, I had difficulty getting past my initial reaction to seeing them taking the knee because in my mind the gesture is linked to BLM — an impression reinforced by Premier League players wearing BLM badges on their shirts last year and football clubs unfurling huge banners in their stadiums saying ‘Black Lives Matter’.