England 'fans' that heckled their team taking the knee are a DISGRACE
England ‘fans’ that heckled their own team taking the knee are a DISGRACE – Three Lions’ Euro 2020 opener should be a symbol of hope and excitement yet we dread how a shameless minority resist their fight for equality
- England players were booed again for taking the knee against Romania
- This sort of disgraceful behaviour by some supporters is utterly depressing
- Players have made it clear their actions are nothing to do with politics
- This is now a major problem for England going into the games this summer
Marcus Rashford became England’s eighth black captain here at the Riverside on Sunday. How did his own supporters congratulate him? They booed him.
Jadon Sancho, Tyrone Mings, Dominic-Calvert Lewin, Ben Godfrey and Kalvin Phillips all started against the Romanians – they were treated with similar disdain.
Imagine that? Proactively heckling the players you have gone out to support?
Some England fans again booed players for taking the knee before their win over Romania
The players were treated with disdain for taking the anti-racism gesture before the match
Unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine, this sort of disgraceful behaviour is occurring in front of our very eyes in full living colour.
What at a world we live in, eh? It is all utterly depressing.
Sportsmail exclusively revealed on May 27 that England players had decided to continue taking the knee during the Euros.
At the time they probably hadn’t realised the storm it would cause. But why would they?
How could they predict a section of small-minded individuals would try to belittle their attempts to fight discrimination?
There was hope that after Gareth Southgate’s inspiring explanation on Saturday of why his players will continue taking the knee in the face of dissent at last Wednesday’s game against Austria here in Middlesbrough that there wouldn’t be no repeat yesterday.
How wrong we were; the England manager’s emotional remarks haven’t made a blind bit of difference.
‘It’s never going to stop. It’s the fans that don’t want to listen, they don’t like to change,’ said Ashley Cole yesterday.
You fear Cole, who played 107 times from England, is spot on in his prediction.
Players have made it clear that the taking the knee gesture has nothing to do with politics
English football still has some way to travel; the two bleak episodes in the space of four days here in Teeside has told us that.
Credit to those who tried their hardest to drown out the jeers with applause. Yet the echo of boos were inescapable.
And as if to hammer home the point, this deplorable section of England’s support chucked in a chorus of ‘No Surrender’ during the national anthems for good measure.
Those intent on booing insist they aren’t racist; claiming they are merely voicing dissent at the knee gesture’s links with the political arm of the Black Lives Matter movement.
No right-minded person buys that for a minute. It’s an excuse – a facade – for them to openly project their true colours.
We are dreading how a minority might resist the player’s fight for equality during the Euros
Players have already made clear their actions have no alignment with politics; taking the knee is simply an act of equality and anti-discrimination.
But, no, footballers are actually secretly pushing their own political agendas for a few seconds before every match. Ridiculous.
Regardless of which side of the fence you sit, there’s no denying this is now a major problem for the FA heading into the start of the Euros.
Those that booed, a hardcore section of England supporters, are likely to be at Wembley for Sunday’s Euros opener against Croatia – a game that is supposed to be a symbol of hope and excitement.
Instead, here we are; dreading how a shameless minority might resist 11 men’s fight for equality.
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