Lionesses decide to stop taking the knee after Jess Carter faces racist abuse

'More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society.'

The change was confirmed by Lionesses’ star defender Lucy Bronze at a press conference.

She says it was a group decision based on a shared feeling that the act was no longer having its desired impact. 

Bronze said: “It was driven by the group - obviously certain individuals more than others.” 

“I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? Because to us it feels like it's not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives."

The Lionesses have been taking the knee before every game since the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in 2020.

Bronze added: “It's about putting another statement out there to say, it's something that still is a problem, it’s something that still needs to be put right. More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don't exactly know.”

The decision has been backed by anti-discrimination group Kick It Out who shared the players’ call on social media companies to do more to combat racist abuse.

The move comes just days after England defender Jess Carter bravely came forward to reveal how she had been subject to “vile” and “abhorrent” online racial abuse throughout this summer’s EURO 2025 tournament. 

27-year-old Carter, who is set to earn her 50th England cap in Thursday’s semi-final tie against Italy on Thursday — said she would take a step back from social media as she poured all of her energy into supporting England’s bid to defend their title. 

Both the English Football Association and UK Police are investigating the allegations of abuse.

Bronze says the awful abuse Carter has been faced with, is part of the double-edged sword brought about by the exponential growth of the women’s game. 

“I think it's something that I've spoken about before and a lot of other members of the team have spoken about the fact that the bigger the game gets, the bigger the noise becomes, the more fans there are but the more critics there are.” 

“We're obviously open to critics, that's why we love the sport, but we're not open to abuse.

“We see it more in the stadiums in men's football and online, but I think with women's football there seems to be a real target online. It’s something that we're very aware of and I think with online platforms it's something that we can, we can make a change too. I think it's something in the women's game especially.”

The Lionesses became the first English side to ever win the European Championships in 2022. 

Support for the women’s football has exploded ever since and latest estimates suggest that by 2030 there will be at least 800 million fans around the globe, making it the world’s fifth most popular sport.