SEVERAL fans booed again as England’s players took the knee ahead of the Three Lions’ pre-Euro 2020 friendly against Romania.
Gareth Southgate and several members of his squad made it quite clear in the build up why they were kneeling and how disappointed they were to hear the jeers ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Austria.
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But that did nothing to sway a number of mindless individuals as the players knelt to raise awareness of racial injustice.
Fortunately, the boos were quickly drowned out by a loud wave of applause from the vast majority of the crowd at Middlebrough’s Riverside stadium.
Two of Romania’s players – Ionuț Nedelcearu and Nicolae Stanciu – chose to remain standing as the players dropped to one knee.
Southgate received widespread praise in the build up to the game for his excellent speech on the issue.
Some boos were expected ahead of the match and more will no doubt be heard throughout the Euros this summer.
But after calling a team meeting earlier this week, the England boss revealed him and his players are more eager than ever to continue with the gesture throughout the summer.
Southgate said: “We feel, more than ever, we are determined to take the knee throughout the tournament.
“We accept there might be an adverse reaction but we’re going to ignore it and move forward.
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“We are all trying to move towards equality — and support our team-mates because of some of the experiences they’ve been through — but people decided to boo.
“The players are sick of talking about all the consequences of should they, shouldn’t they.
“They’ve had enough really. And as far as I’m concerned, they are not going to take any more questions on this through the tournament. If it happens, it happens.
“Their voices have been made loud and clear. They are making their stand — but they want the focus to be on football.”
England’s players were also booed off at the break with the game tied at 0-0 but the jeers were almost certainly performance related.
But speaking about the pre-game boos at half-time, ITV studio guests Ashley Cole, Roy Keane and Ian Wright all urged the players to carry on.
Cole said: “I think it’s never going to stop.
“There are fans who don’t want to listen, who don’t want to understand and don’t like change.
“It is disappointing that we heard the boos but the players just have to carry on, because it’s not going to change.”
Wright added: “The people we’re dealing with can’t understand, no matter how many times the players explain why they’re doing it [taking the knee].
“If they’re still booing, you don’t need to take notice of those people now.
“The players are taking the knee for the right reasons, and that’s all that matters.”
And Manchester United legend Keane implored players not to let the issue affect their performances going into the tournament.
He said: “I think they [the players] just have to focus on the match.
“They’ve made it clear that they’re going to continue to do it, they’ve got the back of Gareth, they believe in it.
“They’re not really in control of what the fans do, and what the reaction might be.”
Speaking after the game – which England ultimately won 1-0 thanks to Marcus Rashford’s penalty – Southgate admitted: “I think I sadly sort of expected what happened to happen, and we have accepted that as a group.
“It’s not going to stop what we’re doing and what we believe, and it’s certainly not going to stop my support for our players, and our staff, so that’s it, we’re gonna have to live with that.
“I don’t want to give it any more oxygen than I did yesterday, we‘ve answered as much as we can. We are a united group.
“We’ve said what we’re going to say now and, of course you’re right to ask the question today, but moving forward it is pointless me going into any further detail on it.”
Captain Rashford added: “It’s something that we can’t control.
“For us, we believe it’s the right thing to do, so we’re going to carry on doing it.”
Wright was proud of Southgate’s words in the week and said before the game: “I’m very proud of Gareth.
“They’re taking the knee to highlight the injustice, it’s a symbolic gesture.
“The excuses they [booing fans] are using for why they’re booing are disingenuous.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
