O/T:- Millwall FC ban the knee!

[seriouspie]

Common sense ........ Football with all it's exposure should never be used for political propaganda on something that happened thousands of miles away. All human lives matter, we all come both in and out the same way. Sorry should have prefixed with O/T.

[LaxtonLad]

Good for them. It no longer carries a message and is embarrassing to watch grown men bowing to a political gesture that has no personal relevance to them or to most football supporters. A bit like watching the Latin Mass for kids and with just as much result.

[SwalePie]

Good for them. It no longer carries a message and is embarrassing to watch grown men bowing to a political gesture that has no personal relevance to them or to most football supporters. A bit like watching the Latin Mass for kids and with just as much result.

How can it possibly have 'no personal relevance to them or to most football supporters'? Surely they are also their fellow human beings?

ETA: For what it's worth, on a personal level, I do prefer the 'linking arms' gesture to the 'knee' as it visually displays more unity IMHO.

[LaxtonLad]

How can it possibly have 'no personal relevance to them or to most football supporters'? Surely they are also their fellow human beings?

ETA: For what it's worth, on a peronal level, I do prefer the 'linking arms' gesture to the 'knee' as it visually displays more unity IMHO.

Do you really think this taking the knee is done by footballers to show support for their "fellow human beings"? Do we really need a gesture such as this before every game of football? Why not tennis? How about before a game of darts? Or snooker? Do none of those sportsmen and women care about their fellow human beings? Or is it done to avoid moral blackmail and the stigma of racist, or because it's on TV and no-one wants to be pointed at as the odd one out?

I strongly suspect that the vast majority of these kneebenders are thinking more about the game ahead than about the lives of people they have never met nor ever will.

I have more respect for the Millwall fans who booed at a football stadium than the celebrities who wept their crocodile tears in the media.

[SwalePie]

I have more respect for the Millwall fans who booed at a football stadium than the celebrities who wept their crocodile tears in the media.

I agree regarding crocodile tears from celebrities but the other part of your statement leaves me astounded. I have zero respect for either. Saying that, I feel the 'knee' has perhaps become a somewhat stale gesture now.

[LaxtonLad]

I agree regarding crocodile tears from celebrities but the other part of your statement leaves me astounded. I have zero respect for either. Saying that, I feel the 'knee' has perhaps become a somewhat stale gesture now.

You don't think booing is an acceptable way of showing you are fed up with a gesture that has lost it's impact and has now, along with Bovril and the players' warm up, become a pre-match routine? "Taking the knee" is a laughable phrase and the gesture itself lost it's impact as a statement of solidarity weeks ago and which would have been booed at then, had fans been let into games. Expect more of the same till the authorities remember it's a game of footie for the working man and not a political rally and scrap "taking the knee".

[queenslandpie]

On a personal level any form of racism is wrong. Respect has been taken, and for the vast majority achieved. There will always be a minority who think different. Society needs to move on and accept that it is the case. By the way I'm an immigrant pommy barsteward.

[cher1]

I'm a bit puzzled. Millwall haven't banned taking a knee, according to Sky Sports, most players will be taking a knee tonight. They are also planning other actions such as wearing KROOF shirts for the game, and linking arms as had been said.

I've got some sympathy for the argument that taking a knee has become something that's expected and may have lost some of its original meaning and value. It was a very powerful symbol in the early days. It is just that though, a symbol, and things need to actually change for the better.

As for all lives matter, the sad reality is that currently they don't.

[seriouspie]

I'm a bit puzzled. Millwall haven't banned taking a knee, according to Sky Sports, most players will be taking a knee tonight. They are also planning other actions such as wearing KROOF shirts for the game, and linking arms as had been said.

I've got some sympathy for the argument that taking a knee has become something that's expected and may have lost some of its original meaning and value. It was a very powerful symbol in the early days. It is just that though, a symbol, and things need to actually change for the better.

As for all lives matter, the sad reality is that currently they don't.

Cher .... I didn't see it on the mainstream media. It was stated last night by that bloke Alex Bellfield (?) who appears on Youtube as 'The voice of reason'. Not that I'm a fan of his but it's what he said. No disrespect to an old BJ girl and you're entitled to your views, but all lives then 'should' matter if you prefer the terminolygy. The simple truth is that football should not become involved in politics because BLM is political at the end of the day.

[60YearsAPie]

I'm not for or against taking a knee. If people want to do it, so be it. I know if I took a knee I wouldn't be able to get up again without assistance. However, how long is it going to last? Maybe in Britain we should take a knee for those killed in terrorist attacks and IRA bombings in the past. Why is it confined to sport? Do actors take a knee before a performance. Do shoppers take a knee before entering Sainsburys?