They won’t listen so we’ll keep booing: a synopsis of taking the knee in English football

It is a divisive political cause with an extreme agenda: abolish the police, dismantle capitalism, obliterate the nuclear family, to name but a few

This article was first published in December of last year, the weekend after fans began to filter back, drip by drip. As expected, fans from across the nation began to boo the ‘taking the knee’ pre-match ritual, owing to its negative connotation. Since then, fans have been brought back into the grounds once more, but this time in larger numbers which are likely to grow over the coming weeks. Yet the kneeling has continued and the dissenting howls to match, and I fear the game is reaching breaking point, particularly as the Euro tournament begins today.

On the first weekend fans were allowed back into football stadiums, following the introduction of the new tiered lockdown system in England, supporters, having won the lottery of being one of only 2,000 people allowed into the ground, it must have been a special, and borderlin nostalgic, moment. But unfortunately – as with everything in this day and age - not even the return of fans has escaped controversy.

It was three o’clock on a Saturday where Championship side Millwall were playing host to bottom of the league Derby. Just before kick-off, both sides ‘took the knee’, to be met with boos by the fans. This scene was repeated in the Premier League game between West Ham and Manchester United, with fans voicing their displeasure to what, by this point, has become routine in top level football.

The fans’ response to this gesture is no surprise. In the United States, the birthplace of this gesture in televised sports games, players were met with boos from a fully packed stadium. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement (hereafter ‘BLM’) on British soil (yet another American import), ‘taking the knee’ is a sign of showing solidarity with the aims of the group. ‘Taking the knee’ is intertwined with the BLM movement; they do this at protests, often successfully persuading police offers to ‘take the knee’ with them.

Regardless, spectators view sport as a route to escape politics and activism- hence the reaction when it is thrust into their chosen theatre of entertainment. Besides, the football industry already has internal organisations and campaigns dedicated to fighting racism, such as Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card, which are both noble initiatives that are openly welcomed and supported.

So why do some fans have an issue with BLM? Because it is more than just a slogan; it is a divisive political cause with an extreme agenda: abolish the police, dismantle capitalism, obliterate the nuclear family, to name but a few.

In addition, its religious commitment to critical race theory- of ‘white privilege’ and ‘systemic oppression’- is going to inevitably alienate the working-class football fan. How can a young white person- having grown up in a deprived area, funnelled into underfunded schools on free school meals, and graduated into a non-existent job market - view themselves as privileged?

BLM has also registered as a political party, violating the Football Association’s rule of forbidding any kind of political favouritism. I wonder how the party will be received by the electorate, given that 55% of the public say that the movement has increased racial tensions? It is also crystal clear why patriotic football fans would oppose a movement responsible for attempting to set fire to the Cenotaph, the memorial to British soldiers who lost their lives fighting for this country.

Therefore, it is a legitimate expression from fans who, after paying money for a ticket, would be displeased at the sight of their own players kneeling for BLM. However, the fans have been met with nothing but condemnation from the out-of-touch sporting establishment. Resident sport lefty of the BBC Gary Lineker, as well as current Derby Interim Manager Wayne Rooney, have both weighed in on the issue.

As usual when one opposes any social justice dogma of the epoch, one is met with a string of dehumanising insults in order to silence any wrong think. In this case, the dissenting fans have been branded as nothing but ‘racists’.

This has led to a case of ping pong radicalisation, as those who mistakenly see BLM as only an ideal of racial equality (which it is anything but) now have their view- that football is flooded with racism- reinforced. This will lead to the BLM virtue signalling to intensify within the game, pushing football fans further away and radicalising them in turn. There is no communication taking place between the two sides; no attempt to understand why football fans may disapprove of the kneeling. For example, former professional player Dion Dublin has simply dismissed the fans as racist for daring to oppose the BLM movement. In this case, it would be good to take a hint from the world of politics to fully understand what happens when you ignore the concerns of others and just brand them as bigots.

There have even been calls to punish these fans, such as from former professional player Micah Richards, who has called for ‘real punishment’ to be enacted. I wonder what that would involve? Lifetime bans? Club-sponsored critical race theory re-education?

Haven’t we all been reassured that this ‘taking the knee’ charade is a personal choice? Well now we know what happens if a player does not join in with their teammates.

If any measures are taken against the fans, such as bans from the stadium, we are going to witness a true radicalisation of the English football fan. If ‘taking the knee’ is perfectly acceptable but dissenting from the movement behind it by booing leads to any retribution, any apologists for retribution will naively think that the racists are outing themselves, and being rightfully cleansed from the game. But those targeted will have a different view, rightfully seeing it as persecution; that a hostile political movement has taken over the sport they love and will liquidate them if they dare dissent.

The fans would not be convinced that their own censorship on behalf of BLM would have done the right thing, then immediately amend their ways, and laughingly ‘take the knee’ themselves. No- these fans will be radicalised, becoming more extreme in their views against BLM, in turn convincing the BLM football world that racism is still a severe problem, perpetuating the cycle of ping-pong radicalisation. Extremism is always fertilised by fear, as the extremist seeks the total annihilation of the other (which the human instinct of self-preservation causes).

In the future, football fans will be suspicious- to the point of paranoia- of any attempts by the football industry to tackle racism, remembering the Trojan Horse that was BLM.