Scottish Football Team Take the knee at Euro 2020 – Sign the Petition
The petition reads: “Scotland have decided against taking a knee during Euro 2020 but will stand up instead as some kind of gesture against racism. After 23 years, we kick off our European campaign on Monday 14th June. Over 2 billion viewers are anticipated to watch Euro 2020. Our 2nd group stage match vs England on Friday 18th is expected to be met by far right, racist opposition to the taking of the knee. We cannot simply stand alongside this.”
Sign it here and share on your networks.
A man was murdered in front of the worlds eyes and given the world stage and the only internationally recognised symbolic action we can take in solidarity we choose not to?
That’s absolutely disgraceful.
It’s such a low bar.
Yes it’s a performative act, yes it’s inadequate but it is a symbolic gesture. As Gerry Hassan has written: “This is a pathetic position taken by the SFA & sadly all too typical of them down the years. Not taking the knee: a) shows moral ambiguity on anti-racism; b) only pleases racists and fascists and c) dismays the vast majority of Scotland fans.”
As Miriam Brett has written: “Black people are being brutalised and murdered by institutionalised racism and all this lot had to do was momentarily kneel to show solidarity. The bar is so low, and they couldn’t even do that. This decision will send a message loud and clear, and shame us on the global stage.”
The SFA’s useless lack of leadership must be opposed, fans should sign the petition and individual players should take action.
Sign it here and share on your networks.
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Nice one Mike. I was seething when I read about this this morning.
Classic SFA. Don’t care about sectarianism. Don’t care about racism. Don’t care about Scottish football.
Ah yes, the SFA like the SRU. White middle class men who like to give the impression of being all powerful and influential but, when push comes to shove, dont have the balls ( pardon the pun ) to show a moral or ethical backbone. Sectarianism, racism and sexism…. all part of establishment Scottish sports hierarchy….its just banter don’t you know ! The sporting division of Unionism, they will not tolerate change or criticism until they are forced to. Pathetic and gutless the lot of them
This was NOT the decision of the SFA
The players and coaching staff made the decision
If anyone wants to take the knee it is up to them and you have no right to raise a petition to force anyone to act against their own conscience
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me “
I’d be there for you but would do it my way rather than someone else telling me what to do
Bella has every right to raise such a petition. And we have every right to sign it or not, as we see fit. That’s what it means to live in a liberal society.
Of course you are right.
Maybe it’s because I’m a football fan that I think it’s bad to put pressure on the players. Seems odd to me that we can’t support the team and their collective decision at a time when they should expect that from us.
Your choice of course but hope the petition gets little support and that the team never hear about it.
They have heard about it, they’ve partially changed their position.
It’s because ‘we’ expect the players to toe the party line, Scott. It’s an authoritarian thing.
I didn’t raise the petition.
That said, ‘taking the knee’ has become a bit of a cliché. A demonstration of solidarity should be something more than empty formalism.
Though I believe the Scotland team is going to go through the proper motions at Wembley.
I am not really bothered one way or another; I think we need to move away from symbols that are neither informative nor meaningful, and in some cases disinformative, distorting and domineering (like statues of historical people). Shows of solidarity are not easily distinguished from closing of ranks in some settings. And there is a fatigue associated with such performances (as in clap for carers, which was kind of undermined by popular support for a Conservative government that offered a miserly pay rise to NHS staff in England whilst enriching their crony cliques). I was more perturbed by the Northern Ireland ‘God Save the Queen’ anthem in the their match against Scotland in the women’s friendly last night. Can’t they get their own tune?
I am also uncomfortable about placing players and the SFA in some kind of moral vanguard. Their actions and words on and off the pitch should speak louder than their momentary pre-match gestures. Perhaps the best thing they can do is support meaningful, material actions that will help real people now. My countersuggestion is that a petitition should demand that players wear strips with the hashtag #royalreparations emblazoned on them. Let the crimes of Empire meet with restorative justice in funding its victims through collective schemes to buy back their land, drawn from the riches of those who gained most and are least repentant.
I was thinking more along the lines of each member of the team having George Floyd’s name, instead of his own, on their strips. Might bugger up the commentary, though.
I like #royalreparations & George Floyd on strips. They could turn their backs at GSTQ as well.
Why should the SFA have any position on this at all? Surely this is a choice for each individual player, and the team as a whole to decide in the dressing room. What’s it got to do with the board room? By cancelling the players’ gesture they’ve unnecessarily implicated themselves as pro-active agents of institutional racism.
The SFA should have some position on this because we are being represented on the world stage in front of millions of people and its the accepted norm to make a simple act of solidarity. Their stance is now even more ridiculous.
I reiterate – it’s not up to the SFA.
It would look ridiculous if we did not show common cause with the English FA. The Czechs are not understanding the anti-racist message one iota.
‘The Czechs are not understanding the anti-racist message one iota.’
Now, that takes the biscuit!
Hi Angus Soutar – your disgusting racist comment won’t be published.
Please take the knee x
My understanding was that some black players refused to take the knee in protest at UEFA’s weak punishment of the Slavia Prague player who abused Glen Kamara – and that other players stood (literally) in solidarity. Is that the case? If so, it should be respected rather than dictating how players can or can’t display anti-racist solidarity.
Would it be for the death of Sheku Bayoh in Kirkaldy? Or would it be about a similar death on a distant continent? Because when that happens here in Scotland hardly anyone could care less. Including fitba players. If they don’t take the knee that would be a fair representation of general Scottish sentiment.
To be fair, ‘George Floyd’ is emblematic of all racist killings, including that of Sheku Bayoh, and by extension of racism generally. (Which is dehumanising of George and his memory, in a sense – to be exploited in that way.)
@Colin Robinson, I think you have a very narrow (and probably warped) view of racist killings, which come in all sorts, sadly, from the horrors of the transatlantic trade in Africans whose bones lie all along its paths, through colonial air policing bombings of brown-skinned villagers, to modern-day attacks with vehicles, and all kinds else (and that is just the British). State or private, group or individual perpetrators, planned or opportunistic, by explosive violence or bureaucratic stealth. It may be convenient for you to make George Floyd emblematic for all of these, because his murder happened yonder awa by other folks. And lethal attacks are just the tip of a very nasty iceberg.
Something closer to home:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000wvzx/statue-wars-one-summer-in-bristol
‘I think you have a very narrow (and probably warped) view of racist killings,’
Why do you say that, SD? I didn’t make the killing of George Floyd emblematic in the fight against racism. If you’ve a problem with it, take it up with the millions of anti-racists around the world who did.
Whenever I see a Black Lives Matter poster, I think it is a solidarity group for Satanists. I’ve never met anyone that was black, or white.
The way to solve the black/white bullshit is to fight against the absolutist totalitarianism that completely underpins the entire concept. That’s not going to happen because so many people have invested so heavily in the gross stupidity of black/white absolutism, and it very much perpetuates the racist ideas that they love to fight against / for.
‘Stop Police Brutality’ might have been more to the point. But that would have been anti-establishment, rather than expressing ingrained establishment thought that’s been perpetuated since the 18th century.
“Whenever I see a Black Lives Matter poster, I think it is a solidarity group for Satanists.”. Do you aye?
Indeed, the task is to disrupt the entire stream of metaphysical thought predicated on oppositions, the world conceived as a totality of absolute oppositions proliferating without end – logos/pathos, mind/body, self/other, good/evil, culture/nature, man/woman, white/black, straight/gay, cis/trans, understanding/perception, subject/object, memory/oblivion, life/death, writing/speech, day/night, capital/labour, etc. – in which one term is always privileged over the other.
Only by disrupting the hegemony that this metaphysics exercises over our praxis, and the relations of production of which that metaphysics is an ideology, can the oppositions it expresses sublate into more inclusive forms of life.
Good luck with that one. A utopian dream. Most of us try and live in the real world where, y’know, there really is a night and a day.
Binaries do need to be countered as simplistic sometimes but they do actually exist in the sense that though not absolute, the thing that characterises two things in their relationship the most, is that they are opposites.
Steve Clarke and Andy Robertson have both made statements on the SFA Twitter feed confirming their reasons for standing (see my earlier post). For avoidance of doubt they will however take the knee at Wembley in solidarity with the English players. I think it’s important to explain the context of why standing has become a form of anti-racist protest in Scottish football, and not feed a far right narrative about our national team.
Steve Clarks and Andy Robertson’s statements make no sense whatsoever.
When you say: “I think it’s important to explain the context of why standing has become a form of anti-racist protest in Scottish football”, please do so.
I’m really confused by how supporting a petition to take the knee is feeding “a far right narrative about our national team.”
The far right are the people who – as you must know – have been booing people taking the knee.
Hi BC, I’ve explained above and on your FB page but once again the full story is that Rangers players (led by their black squad members) stopped taking the knee in March, in protest at UEFA’s inaction over reported racial abuse of Kamara. Celtic then stood with them at the next Old Firm game in solidarity – an action which was widely praised. Other clubs and the national team then followed.
The far right are now trying to present standing as some kind of anti-BLM gesture which in the context of Scottish football is completely inaccurate. I believe the petition feeds this narrative by failing to research or explain the reasons behind standing – specifically that the initial change was led by black players and in protest at UEFA’s institutional racism.
The trouble is that Rangers players dont get to choose how the national team conducts itself, and most Scottish teams and most English teams take the knee before matches. We’ve all watched this for months all season.
Secondly this is the internationally recognised symbol for solidarity with BLM. This is an international spectacle with a huge tv audience. The audience is not gong to know the background to Kamara/UEFA or whatever. All they will see is Scotland players standing where others take the knee.
BC – all SPL teams stopped taking the knee for the remainder of the season after the Kamara incident. It wasn’t dictated by Rangers, it was a collective decision by the football community, transcending traditional rivalries. So what you’ve said isn’t entirely accurate. I’m really proud of the young men in our national team. They’ve been faced with a genuine dilemma of how to support both their SPL and EPL colleagues and I think they’ve found the correct course of action.
Regarding the second point, it’s a fair one but partially undermined by saying “Kamara/UEFA or whatever”, which sounds dismissive of a serious racist event. (As does “For some reason” in the petition.) I’m sure this isn’t the intention of you or the petition’s author.
Standing has developed in Scotland as a radical, communal anti-racist protest and I think if this was any other field of Scottish culture or politics this website would have gone to greater lengths to research and comment on that. I also wonder if a UEFA tournament is not the place to protest UEFA, then what is?
Hi David
you write: “Standing has developed in Scotland as a radical, communal anti-racist protest and I think if this was any other field of Scottish culture or politics this website would have gone to greater lengths to research and comment on that.”
You’re quite wrong. Rangers, Motherwell and Dundee Utd adopted this, no one else, so just three clubs.
PFA Scotland announced in March that players in all four Scottish divisions would continue taking the knee to keep the issues of social injustice and racial inequality in the forefront of society’s minds.
PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart said: “Following last weekend’s Show Racism the Red Card activity, we were approached by our members who felt strongly that the action of taking a knee shouldn’t be a one-off gesture.
After the Glen Kamara incident PFA Scotland announced that the take the knee routine which has taken place before every game in Scotland’s top flight this season, would continue until October at least.
Sevco FC would’ve been eager to move to the “just standing” (non) gesture to avoid being booed by their own fans once crowds were allowed back. Let’s hope their opponents ensure they’ll have to suffer the embarrassment in any case.
BC – happy to be corrected if it wasn’t all clubs but was certainly more than the 3 you list. Are you sure that PFA statement comes from after the Kamara abuse case not before?
Ok, just flicked through a few games on catch up and happy to hold my hands up and recognise it wasn’t ALL SPL teams that switched to standing – my mistake, thanks for pointing it out. However it was definitely more than the 3 clubs listed so you need to check your facts. I don’t know about the chronology of that PFA statement but it doesn’t reflect what actually happened at several clubs following the Slavia abuse.
I don’t want to be overly critical of this site or its editor as I really do enjoy reading it, but in this instance Mike I really think the issue should be tackled by someone with more knowledge of Scottish football than either you (or I) have. (Happy to admit I’m a fairweather fan who just watches the big games or the highlights on Sportscene).
For what it’s worth, Hibs were one of the teams that switched to standing, and had a BLM banner in the ground the whole season, which I think illustrates how standing and support for BLM were not mutually exclusive for Scottish clubs and players.
Hi David
yes the PFA statement was after the Slavia abuse as it mentions it specifically.
I’ve categorically disproven your argument with a statement from the players union …
[PFA Scotland announced in March that players in all four Scottish divisions would continue taking the knee to keep the issues of social injustice and racial inequality in the forefront of society’s minds.
PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart said: “Following last weekend’s Show Racism the Red Card activity, we were approached by our members who felt strongly that the action of taking a knee shouldn’t be a one-off gesture.
After the Glen Kamara incident PFA Scotland announced that the take the knee routine which has taken place before every game in Scotland’s top flight this season, would continue until October at least.]
… so its a bit strange for you to come back and re-challenge this. These are the facts.
One last thing then I’m out. I stand by my comment about BC not having researched this properly. The “3 clubs – no one else” thing shows this perfectly. It’s untrue. If you’re going to tell people they’re “just wrong” it helps to counter that with some actual facts. I’m not going to do a ‘head count’ of which teams do and don’t kneel in Scotland, and accept I was wrong to say “all” – but it’s been widely explained by the players, coaches and sports media that standing became a widespread and accepted anti-racist gesture in the latter part of the season. I’ve seen it with my own eyes on the telly. Please check your facts before dismissing people so curtly.
‘I really think the issue should be tackled by someone with more knowledge of Scottish football than either you (or I) have.’
The issue, which is entirely manufactured for authoritarian purposes, has nothing to do with Scottish football. The issue is whether or not people should toe the line.
It’s nobody’s business what this group of people do but their own. They should be left alone to decide whether or not their going to protest and, if so, what form that protest will take.
Folk are talking here as if they own the people involved.
BC – our posts crossed. Please can you provide a link to that statement? I can’t find it anywhere on the PFA website. The post-Kamara PFA statement reads thus, and explicitly supports players who chose not to take the knee.
https://pfascotland.co.uk/pfa-scotland-statement-on-racist-abuse/
It’s also unclear what is PFA statement and what’s your own writing. The Kamara incident was mid-late March – does the statement mention it specifically or are those your words?
Any acknowledgement that the “3 clubs – no one else” thing is nonsense?
Frankly the reason I’m querying it is because it conflicts with what I’ve seen with my own eyes, the words of the Scotland captain and coach, and multiple reports in specialist sports media.
Hi David – the quote I have you is from the PFA and specifically mentions the Kamara incident:
‘AFTER THE GLEN KAMARA INCIDENT PFA SCOTLAND ANNOUNCED THAT THE TAKE THE KNEE ROUTINE WHICH HAS TAKEN PLACE BEFORE EVERY GAME IN SCOTLAND’S TOP FLIGHT THIS SEASON WOULD CONTINUE UNTIL OCTOBER AT LEAST’
… these are not my words.
“PFA Scotland announced in March that players in all four Scottish divisions would continue taking the knee to keep the issues of social injustice and racial inequality in the forefront of society’s minds.
PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart said: “Following last weekend’s Show Racism the Red Card activity, we were approached by our members who felt strongly that the action of taking a knee shouldn’t be a one-off gesture.
After the Glen Kamara incident PFA Scotland announced that the take the knee routine which has taken place before every game in Scotland’s top flight this season, would continue until October at least.”
Colin – that’s 100% not my intention. The choice is the players’ and I believe they can and should be trusted to make their own decision as they have done.
I appreciate that, David. I’m with you on this.
https://news.stv.tv/sport/motherwell-and-dundee-utd-join-clubs-no-longer-taking-the-knee?amp
backs up BC.
Tom, how does this support BC’s call for football players to toe the line?
And I love this:
‘If a young child asks its parent why the players are taking a knee and the reason is explained then they are being educated about social injustice and racial inequality.’
Why would young children even ask their parents why players kneel before kicking off when it’s become something players just normally do as part of the ritual surrounding the game. And even if they did wonder, what if the reason explained to them is ‘because it is the symbol of a movement we loathe, Black Lives Matter, and its Marxism, the critical race theory stuff, the corrosive hatred towards capitalism and white people’. Would that be educating them about social justice and racial inequality?
BC – you’ve still not provided a link. Where do these words appear?
Tom – that story is from the day before the 21 March Old Firm game which as I’ve said was pivotal in that both Rangers and Celtic stood rather than knelt. Those words no longer appear anywhere on the PFA website in that version as far as I can see. Multiple teams subsequently switched from kneeling. I really don’t understand how this is a debate. Watch the matches still up on Premier Player – from an unrepresentative sample there are more clubs standing than kneeling.
Anyway, this is all detracting from the main issue of racism in the daftest way possible.
It’s difficult to see how you can read the words “‘AFTER THE GLEN KAMARA INCIDENT PFA SCOTLAND ANNOUNCED THAT THE TAKE THE KNEE ROUTINE WHICH HAS TAKEN PLACE BEFORE EVERY GAME IN SCOTLAND’S TOP FLIGHT THIS SEASON WOULD CONTINUE UNTIL OCTOBER AT LEAST’ and continue to debate this.
I’m confused why you can’t give this up. A bit bored now too.
Colin, why teach children anything in that case? The hope is they will grow up and see the stupidity in their fascist parent’s argument.
Because, Mike, I’ve asked repeatedly where those words come from and you’ve not answered. They don’t appear anywhere on the PFA website. Also they only state that the ‘routine’ would continue which it undeniably did, but with most clubs I watched opting to stand rather than kneel during the routine. This is honestly the oddest conversation I’ve had online – someone telling me players I saw standing weren’t standing because of a PFA statement, but they won’t explain where that statement came from, when it was made or whether it was subsequently withdrawn.
I also note you’re not retracting the “3 clubs” falsehood. It’s not particularly important as a matter of substance but makes me wonder what else you’ve said is inaccurate. I’m out for good this time, cheers for the chat.
Oh god. Tom’a already given you the link. The PFA were quoted in many many sources and sites saying the same thing.
If you want I’ll search all of the examples where they said the same thing and then send you the links to them all, shall I?
So the quote that I have repeated, that completely defies your argument is here:
https://news.stv.tv/sport/motherwell-and-dundee-utd-join-clubs-no-longer-taking-the-knee?amp
Brilliant, is that your source?! As I said above that news story (not a direct PFA source) is dated a day before the Old Firm game which was the key turning point for the Scottish football community. All news stories are archived on the PFA website and that one isn’t on there, suggesting the quotes were either cobbled together by STV from separate press releases, or it was withdrawn following the Old Firm game. Either way it comes before the key game when Rangers and Celtic together chose to stand not kneel.
Thanks for clarifying, I’m now completely satisfied.
As I said, not sure if you can read, but as I just said the same quote was made in multiple outlets.
So here’s the sequence:
1) On the 12 June you write: “All SPL teams stopped taking the knee for the remainder of the season after the Kamara incident.”
2) When this was pointed out to be entirely wrong you got angry
3) When presented with a quote from the chief executive of the PFA you claim he’s somehow “not a direct PFA source”.
4) Now your “completely satisfied”.
Great.
But are they likely to learn this from their parents when they ask their parents why the players are kneeling, Tom?
We shouldn’t teach children any specific moral lessons. We should teach them the critical thinking skills that comprise philosophy, so that they’ll be minded to doubt rather than just accept anything we tell them when they ask us questions like ‘Why do footballers kneel prior to the kick-off of the match in which they’re playing?”
Educating children should be about opening rather than closing their minds.
Indeed! It’s not just in Scotland that taking a knee is traditionally associated with servility rather than respect. Personally, I kneel to no man.
@Colin Robinson, still holding out for that knighthood before Liz-2 cops it?
Aye, again I’ve been passed over in favour of the likes of Linda Bauld and Fiona McQueen.
I was once invited to a Garden Party at Holyrood back in the early noughties. But I declined to go, on the grounds that I’d have been required to put in my teeth and wear a suit, which is not my style, being a t-shirt and baggy sweatpants kind of guy. She’s obviously taken umbrage at having her invite knocked back.
Indeed. ‘Taking the knee’ is a universal exhibition of genuflection and servility, and has been since the beginning of time. An unfortunate choice of symbolic gestures. The universal symbol of solidarity is raising a clenched fist. The kneeling thing comes across as servility in the face of national anthems, even if you know what it’s about.
Kneeling for the national anthem was an organized strategic protest by Colin Kaepernick of the American football team the San Francisco 49ers a few years ago. Incidentally still a free agent!
It was then adopted by the BLM movement after the murder of George Floyd with regard to the 8-9 mins he was knelt on and choked to death. It was a powerful gesture when millions of people blocked off streets all over the US last year and knelt against racist police terror.
I’m from Scotland but currently living in the US. The radical black left tradition here talks about how you can’t fight racism as it is thoughts in white people’s heads. You need to build black power as a counter to white power and white supremacy that evolved from the expansion of the capitalist system by European imperial nations through the slave trade, settler colonialization and then colonization of the African continent. Enhancing black power here revolves around things like reparations and black community control of the police. Building black power obviously needs to be black led.
Not sure how this fits into Scotland, Scottish football and it’s institutions! I believe it was Wilfred Zaha that first took a stand in the EPL and justified it as kneeling had lost its impact. John Barnes was another pundit who was interviewed by the bbc early on and spoke of how systemic racism needed to be the focus and was never interviewed again!
White solidarity is hugely important in this struggle. Taking the knee, standing, clapping out the boos…who knows what the best tactic is at a football game. Mike and the Bella team have their opinions and justifications and I’m glad that they continue to publish and discuss these matters! I’m a little embarrassed that I’m really excited about Scotland being in the euros. Not too hopeful about the results though!
Thanks Andy. Of course Colin Kaepernick is an inspiration.
The problem is that “standing” has no impact. It’s the most passive thing possible. Even if it was somehow recognised as a form of protest (which it isnt) how do you know when someone is “standing” or just standing?
Adam Ramsay has written:
“When Black Lives Matter protests spread across the world last year after the murder of George Floyd, Black sports stars across the planet followed Kaepernick’s example, insisting that their own clubs and countries and nations address their own racisms, too. They would no longer perform the untruths that the countries whose shirts they wore and whose anthems they sang were united. All of our nations, they insisted, are torn apart by racist histories and racist presents.
Most people may believe that they oppose what they see as racism, but that doesn’t mean they see all the ways in which it runs through the core of our societies. We need to be told, and challenged, to listen and to learn.
And how those conversations play out in the Euros, which start next week, matters.”
Read it here: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/not-taking-knee-euros-scotland-exposes-its-national-myth/
But what about Wilfred Zaha’s point that kneeling has also become trite – i.e. the performance of an untruth, like singing about ‘the land of the free’ – and lost its impact?
I’m with you on the “standing” Mike. If team A is taking the knee and team B isn’t then team B appears to be protesting at taking the knee. If a team is only taking the knee when the other team does that sends an ambiguous message. If they want to show solidarity with their English team mates then they should take the knee in all games as the English are doing. Laurence Fox has said he’s “embarrassed to be British” over the English team taking the knee. We certainly don’t want him praising the Scottish team.
Here we are, on the eve of the match, and only 935 people have signed the petition. Go figure!
Perhaps the Scotland squad could sent a message about the climate emergency by not jumping on a plane to Hampden?