England players booed for taking a knee despite plea by team
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2021 (1910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
LONDON (AP) — Sections of fans at Wembley Stadium booed England players for taking a knee before the European Championship game against Croatia on Sunday.
The boos, which could be heard over those fans applauding, came despite pleas from the team to respect the anti-racism gesture. Croatia’s players did not take a knee as expected ahead of the Group D game, which England won 1-0.
“Everybody should cheer for England,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a short time later at the G7 Summit, while not saying if he would take a knee if he was a player.
Some England fans claim taking a knee is a political act but the English Football Association said again ahead of the team’s opening Euro 2020 match that the gesture is important to them and should be respected. There had been booing at England’s two warmup games for the tournament that were played in Middlesbrough.
“They are doing this as a mechanism of peacefully protesting against discrimination, injustice and inequality,” the FA said in a statement to fans. “This is personally important to the players and the values the team collectively represents. This gesture of unity and fighting against inequality can be traced back as far as the 18th century.
“It is not new, and English football has made it very clear that it does not view this as being aligned to a political organisation or ideology. There can be no doubt as to why the players are taking the knee and what it represents in a footballing context.”
The jeering was by some fans who also chanted “No surrender” during the national anthem. That’s a dated reference to the conflict endured for generations that saw Britain hit by terrorist attacks from the Irish Republic Army.
Croatia’s national anthem was also booed by some of the 22,500 fans allowed into Wembley, which could lead to the country’s soccer association being fined by UEFA.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Related Articles
Australia, Japan perfect in WC qualifying stage; China wins Morata singled out as Spain struggles to score at Euro 2020
Advertisement Advertise With Us