Racism and the Soft Power of Sports - Kneeling in the Premier League

In August of 2016, a San Francisco 49ers photographer snapped an innocuous photo of the team lining up for the national anthem before a preseason football game, sending it into the twitterverse without thought. Within hours, the picture had been zoomed in and shared a million times to reveal one player sitting on the bench while his teammates stood for the flag. In the weeks and months that follwed, [not before a meeting with a former green beret who proposed he kneel, a more respectful gesture, instead of sit], quarterback Colin Kaepernick quickly became the face of the fight against racism, even if his decision ended his career in the NFL. When asked why he chose not to stand, Kaepernick did not hold back, stating:

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

The previous month saw two black men killed by law enforcement. In response to a disturbance on July 5th in Baton Rouge, police shot Alton Sterling six times, all caught by footage showing the victim to have been non-aggressive (despite not being told why he was being arrested.) The very next day in St. Paul, Philando Castile was pulled over for an out taillight and was shot four times while reaching for his license, the aftermath of which was streamed on instagram from the passenger seat by his stunned girlfriend. I cannot try to do justice in one sentence, but we mustn't forget the reason we say “Black Lives Matter” today: although African Americans make up less than 14% of the population, they’ve accounted for almost 24% of 6,000 recorded fatal police shootings in the United States since 2015. While the specifics behind Kaepernick’s reasoning for sitting-then-kneeling that season are unclear, to understand his intention without acknowledging this context is to elude the dark reality of deep-rooted racism.

Cut to 2020. Covid-19. Lockdowns. Work and school went remote, restaurants shut their doors, millions were furloughed; sports stopped indefinitely for the first time since the world was at war. The Premier League was put on pause after 29 matchweeks, the last game with fans being March 9th. Between then and June 17th, when Project Restart began with the first two soccer games in eerily empty stadiums, another black man was murdered -- this time on the street in broad daylight, suffocated by four policemen in front of a crowd. Nothing could erase the image of that cop calmly kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, carelessly sucking the breath out of him.

The shock of such an act in a country that is built upon the ideology that all men are created equal shook the globe; people from Canada to Nigeria protested as people worn out from quarantine’s isolation and rightly pissed off gave voice to their emotions. In the morning of a June 1st training session, Liverpool F.C. players initiated a sign of solidarity for black lives everywhere, kneeling in the center circle as a team. As the photo was posted by Liverpool’s instagram and reposted by all the players, it reached Kick It Out, a 1993 campaign turned organization in 1997 to fight racism in the English game; Chairman Sanjay Bhandari encouraged all Premier League players to do the same, suggesting “if every player did that it would be a pretty powerful message.” The Premier League responded: in time for June 17, the first round of Project Restart, each player had BLACK LIVES MATTER spelled across the back of the jersey instead of their name.

In the 172 Premier League games since George Floyd’s death, every single one has begun with a brief moment of silence. I can’t say how many times I’ve heard NBCSports’ lead play-by-play commentator Arlo White open the match with something like this: “We welcome you to a very important matchup today, the sun is out and fans are ready for football, but not before the players take a knee, a persistent reminder that there is no room for racism, in sport or the greater world.” Over time some have argued the gesture has lost its impact, including Crystal Palace star winger and Ivory Coast international Wilfred Zaha. He stopped kneeling this season, releasing a statement in part reading:

“For me personally I feel kneeling has just become a part of the pre-match routine and at the moment it doesn’t matter whether we kneel or stand, some of us still continue to receive abuse."

Zaha described feeling like having a target on his back, wearing those BLM jerseys. According to a study released by the Professional Footballers’ Association in partnership with Kick it Out, Zaha was one of the four players who received 20% of all the total online abuse recorded during the 2020/2021 season, a period which also saw a 48% increase in abuse from the first half of the season to the second. The report further concluded that in the aftermath of players speaking out against racism, abuse increases. Zaha has documented waking up on match days to racist messages and pictures online.

Taking a knee is a small gesture, one that clearly can’t solve a problem such as racism. However, there’s something to be said for constant reminders, and when it’s coming from the most vaunted league in soccer, it comes with some authority. Soft power is by definition subtle. It isn’t fireworks or American flags that stretch the length of the outfield or even Fergie singing the national anthem. In the fight against systemic racism, which is sometimes invisible to those who don’t feel it oppressed upon them, it’s good to know that the Premier League is on the right side. When Liverpool players knelt, they weren’t blacklisted, but bolstered, and if inspired athletes with massive platforms (and paychecks) are empowered to use them, only good can come.