Black Lives Matter: Stars can kneel for anthem in FA Cup final

Players have been given the green light to take a knee during the national anthem at the FA Cup final as an anti-racist statement.

Arsenal's Alexandre Lacazette, left, and Sheffield United's Jack Robinson kneel in support of the Black Lives Matter movement before the English FA Cup quarter-final Picture: Getty

The Football Association has given the green light to players choosing to take a knee during the national anthem before the FA Cup final as an anti-racist statement.

Teams have gone down on one knee before every Premier League match since the restart on June 17 and the FA has confirmed that players will be able to make the same gesture during the national anthem at Wembley, when players and officials would traditionally stand. Sanjay Bhandari, the head of football’s anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, has welcomed the FA’s approach, saying taking a knee “demonstrates respect for the values embodied in the national anthem”.

Taking a knee as a form of protest was first done by Colin Kaepernick to draw attention to police brutality against black Americans.

Critics accused him of disrespecting the United States flag and the country’s military, prompting the NFL to ban the practice and fine players who followed Kaepernick’s lead. But last month Roger Goodell, the league’s commissioner, issued an apology for the policy after the wave of protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

The protests have also called attention to inequalities in British sport, and Premier League players had “Black Lives Matter” instead of their names on the back of their shirts for the opening round of the restart.

“I welcome the FA’s pragmatic approach to enable players to show their support for the fight for racial equality,” Bhandari said.

“Fairness and equality are core British values and there are many ways to demonstrate respect for those values embodied in the national anthem. Taking a knee is one of them.”

Fifa usually bans political demonstrations including messages on shirts, but has taken the decision to allow such protests on the grounds that they are campaigning against discrimination, which is a moral rather than political issue. Concerns have been expressed about the political slant of the Black Lives Matter organisation in the UK after it posted a tweet criticising Israel, but the Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, insisted that the gestures were supporting the principle rather than the organisation.

“It’s perfectly possible to support Black Lives Matter without being seen to be supporting any political organisation,” Masters said last week. “We’re happy to support the players, we think it’s the right moment to do it and for the first time, I feel players, managers, the league and clubs are on the same page on the issue of discrimination. Our position is clear. Politics no, moral causes yes – when agreed.”

Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, was fined two years ago for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of Catalan separatists and he said last week that he was also supporting a humanitarian cause as they were “political prisoners”.

“All the humanitarian causes must be defended and my yellow ribbon was for this, for the political prisoners who are still in jail for asking for people to vote,” he said. “Now it is like for Black Lives Matter, all the causes to make our society better. I think every human being has to try to be there.”

The Times