Bayern's Boateng urges players to take a knee in Champions League

 

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - DFB Cup - Third Round - Bayern Munich v TSG 1899 Hoffenheim - Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - February 5, 2020 Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng during the warm up before the match. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert

 

(Reuters) - Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng says players must use the platform provided by the Champions League to continue sending messages about racial equality by taking a knee.

 

Athletes from around the world have taken a knee in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign, which gained momentum after George Floyd's death in police custody in May.

 

Europe's Champions League, which has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume next month.

 

"It's very powerful and very important that we continue this in the Champions League, especially in the final, because the whole world will look," said Boateng, whose side hold a 3-0 lead over Chelsea heading into the second leg of their last-16 tie on Aug. 8.

 

"Hopefully in some sports that are not back yet, they will join us. I think it's very important."

 

The German defender, who has been the victim of racial abuse in the past, said he had spoken to his Bayern team mates about the issues raised by the BLM movement.

 

"We talked about it before our break, I talked actually to Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka about it," the 31-year-old said.

 

"They asked me how to support, how does it feel, what happened to you when you were younger, so I could tell them my story, what were my experiences, and why is it so painful and hard to hear those things."

 

(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-31

 

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Oh please just stop now fcs.

 

“Oh please just stop now fcs”

 

 

It’s too late, politics is firmly entrenched in sport now and if it’s what the sportsmen/athletes want to do then begrudgingly I say fine up to them.

However, Individuals shouldn’t be penalised for not taking part but that’s not possible at the moment in the premiership.

When the virus is finished (hopefully), football will find itself minus a lot of supporters. 

 

What a compete clusterfck this BLM thing has become.White lives, yellow lives and all the other color lives matter equally.

 

Enough already!

18 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

 

“Oh please just stop now fcs”

 

 

It’s too late, politics is firmly entrenched in sport now and if it’s what the sportsmen/athletes want to do then begrudgingly I say fine up to them.

However, Individuals shouldn’t be penalised for not taking part but that’s not possible at the moment in the premiership.

When the virus is finished (hopefully), football will find itself minus a lot of supporters. 

 

Yep, it's hard to find a real sports story on the BBC Sports page these days. Every story is about multi-millionaire athletes complaining about their lack of privilege.

 

I hope the players ignore the immense pressure to conform to this stupid trend. I have nothing but admiration for this brave young girl who did just that. It wouldn't surprise me if she's been dropped from the team and her parents sacked from their jobs by now.

 

 

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

 

 

 

The “knee” has become the nazi salute, woe betide anyone not following suit, and the “Kick it Out” anti racism campaign that was achieving its objectives in football is being hijacked by divisive politics.

No. No and thrice no. 

As far as I know, it's only the ENGLISH league that allows this weird KNEE-jerk 10-second exercise in white abasement to happen.

 

If anyone knows of other countries (apart of course from the 100% WOKE country, USA) which perform this futile gesture, please correct me.

 

ALL lives matter - but be careful you don't say that in some place where your true thoughts might be ripped apart by the Twitter mob...and you lose your job (even if it was your great-great granny who said the BAD bad words.....a hundred years ago).