Premier League Captains Plan Show of Support for Black Lives Matter

In Germany, where the Bundesliga returned to competitive play last month, players and teams have already shown solidarity with the protests: A number of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich players have warmed up in jerseys bearing slogans from the protests — including “No Justice, No Peace” — while Marcus Thuram, a Borussia Mönchengladbach forward, took a knee after scoring against Union Berlin.

Weston McKennie, an American midfielder who plays for Schalke, wore an armband demanding justice for Floyd.

In Britain, where tens of thousands have attended Black Lives Matter protests across the country in recent days, players from Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle have all taken a knee before training sessions.

The Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling — who had emerged as a powerful advocate on the issue of discrimination both within soccer and in society as a whole long before the latest round of protests — expressed the need to “implement change” in an interview with Newsnight, the BBC’s flagship news review program.

The protesters, Sterling said, “are trying to find a solution and a way to stop the injustice they are seeing, and they are fighting for their cause.”

The captains of the Premier League’s teams have made clear that they want to be able to express the same sentiment when they return to the field over the next 10 days.

Though it is not yet known what form that message will take — the Premier League is likely to offer the players a number of options — Bellerín, Coleman and Deeney were all particularly vocal during the meeting, stating their belief that soccer had a duty to make its voice heard on a social issue that matters so much not just to its fans, but also to its players.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/sports/soccer/premier-league-captains-george-floyd.html