For the 2022–2023 season, Premier League teams plan to stop kneeling before every game.
The 20 clubs apparently met and reached a consensus that the gesture has “lost its gravitas,” leading to the decision.
Every Premier League team has supported the Black Lives Matter movement since the 2020–21 season by conducting a pregame protest in which the players took a knee.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the protest in 2016, and after George Floyd passed away in the United States in 2020, more well-known athletes like Lewis Hamilton quickly followed suit.
When it first started, the Premier League’s anti-racism gesture was widely praised by the larger sporting world.
But as time has passed, more and more athletes, such as Wilfried Zaha and Ivan Toney, have come out against it.
Now, as reported by Mail Plus, “despite mounting worries that the gesture has lost its significance,” some Premier League captains have concurred that kneeling should only occur before “chosen” games.
It’s considered that the demonstration might be saved for televised games and neighborhood rivalries to get the most viewers possible.
While the majority of teams are receptive to the idea, others do not.
The recently promoted Bournemouth team, according to the source, will not take the knee at all since the players feel that the movement has “played its course.”
Wilfried Zaha was one of the first Premier League athletes to criticize the emblem.
The Crystal Palace player said, “I feel like kneeling is degrading,” at the FT Business of Football conference.
“As I was growing up, my parents basically told me to be proud to be black, no matter what, and I just think we should stand tall,” the author said.
“In my opinion, the purpose behind the whole affair is evolving into something we simply do nowadays. That is insufficient. I’m not going to bend down.
“We’re trying to pretend we’re equal, but these things aren’t working,” he continued.
“Don’t ask me about it unless there has been a change. I don’t want to hear about it unless anything is going to happen.
