Footballers kneel in defiance as Trump continues attack
More than 130 NFL footballers across the US have delivered a silent rebuke to the American president.
As The Star-Spangled Banner washed over them, some players dropped to their knees while others locked arms in solidarity with their teammates.
Each of the more than 130 National Football League footballers across America who yesterday protested during the US national anthem did so in response to Donald Trump’s call that they be sacked for disloyalty to their country.
But the US President was just warming up in a fight he provoked two days earlier, presumably thinking his conservative base would back him. “Sports fans should never condone players that do not stand proud for their National Anthem or their country. NFL should change policy,” was one of a barrage of tweets he fired off as NFL games were played across the US yesterday.
Mr Trump insisted the issue was not one of race, even though the protests were designed to draw attention to police shootings of minorities.
“No, this has nothing to do with race,” Mr Trump said. “I’ve never said anything about race. This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country, and respect for our flag.”
The issue of protests by a handful of NFL players during the national anthem at games was a minor one until the weekend when Mr Trump called on them to be sacked or suspended for their actions.
The protests began last year when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Collin Kaepernick refused to stand during the anthem to protest against police treatment of racial minorities.
Each week a handful of players followed his lead.
At the weekend Mr Trump also attacked the best US basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, rescinding an invitation to the White House after their star Stephen Curry said he wouldn’t visit the White House because of Mr Trump.
Fellow basketball superstar LeBron James lashed out at the President, saying “going to the White House was a great honour until you showed up”.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell slammed Mr Trump’s comments on NFL players as “divisive” while almost half the club owners criticised the President.
But Mr Trump stepped up his attack yesterday.
“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend,” he tweeted “NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back US.”
His tweets prompted a widespread and apparently spontaneous reaction from players and coaches across the NFL.
In Buffalo, New York, most of the Denver Broncos team went down on one knee during the anthem, while a game played in London between the Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars saw at least a dozen players kneeling. In Chicago the Pittsburgh Steelers refused to come out of the tunnel before the game until the anthem was over.
Other players locked their arms in solidarity, including the game’s biggest star, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
But the protests were not always popular, with boos ringing out across some stadiums and drowning out applause.
After watching the spreading reaction, Mr Trump tweeted: “Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for our Country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!”
Asked about the issue later, Mr Trump said: “We have a great country. We have great people representing our country, especially our soldiers, our first responders, and they should be treated with respect. And when you get on your knee and you don’t respect the American flag or the anthem, that’s not being treated with respect.”
But Ravens linebacker Terry Suggs said: “We stand with our brothers. They have the right and we knelt with them today. To protest, non-violent protest, is as American as it gets, so we knelt with them today to let them know that we’re a unified front. I guess we’re all son-of-a-bitches.”
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
Women egged in anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach
Three men allegedly set upon a number of women on Saturday night in Sydney's east, throwing eggs at them, with police believing they were targeted because of the clothes they were wearing.
‘Hunted down and locked up’: PM condemns latest anti-Semitic attack
Anthony Albanese has condemned a spate of anti-Semitic hate crimes which has culminated in the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives outside Sydney, declaring the perpetrators 'would not succeed' creating hate and division.