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Football

13th Jun 2021

England make final appeal to fans not to boo players taking the knee

Kieran Galpin

The FA has responded to the immature booing at matches

The Football Association has put out a statement calling for fans to be respectful as players take the knee. Whether they will listen is another thing entirely.

“Tomorrow, our England senior men’s team will begin their Euro 2020 campaign at our home, Wembley Stadium,” reads the first line.

Due to a group of supposed fans dedicated to messing up England’s chances, the FA have now released a statement calling for respect, or at the very least for ignorant fans to remain silent and respect the team.

Numerous players and football commentators have called for the same thing, though this has seen varied success. Manager Gareth Southgate was the first to discuss the topic at the Euros, reiterating this was a show of solidarity and not a political movement.

Said fans naturally chose to ignore what he said and instead fabricated something else entirely. Later, James O’Brien hilariously out-smarted a proud booer, highlighting that he was not a fan if he was booing, due to the impact on player performance that such booing can have.

Since then, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville have also highlighted how ridiculous and disrespectful those select fans are acting.

The harsh reality is that football teams are not obligated to change their opinions and actions based on fans’ views. They are doing what they believe is right.

If England’s performance is impacted because of the booing, then we all know who to point the finger at. Perhaps if fans were as vocal about racism as they are kneeling, then there would be less of a need for this gesture in the first place.