Millwall Fans Today
Waited nine months to get into their home ground to watch their team play and the FIRST thing they do is boo their own players taking the knee.
A disgraceful public and open show of racism and bigotry and I hope the club throw the book at them and don't let them back, and if they don't then the EFL should. With the measures needed to allocate tickets to 2000 fans, you would assume someone has a record of everyone in attendance but I guess the face masks could actually come in handy in hiding the racists in plain sight...
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One look at the comments on that post show it’s not an isolated problem
Absolutely not an isolated problem, which is also part of the reason their club should make an example of those guilty in this instance.
I cannot recommend this from the BBC highly enough https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pzpr/anton-ferdinand-football-racism-and-me - it shows that pretty much nothing has moved on in 10 years plus
The players would have been well within their rights to walk off. I've just seen someone make a very good point: Obviously it's not all Millwall fans, but what does it say about the environment there when so many of them feel empowered to behave like that in public?
If you're on fb, then literally every thread featuring Sky or Now Tv has a stream of comments about how people won't buy it due to the BLM politics.
I haven't yet seen someone reply to the obvious question of "what part of a gesture to show solidarity to black people is an issue for you?"
Correct, people argue otherwise and point at any violence or disrespect by any one on any march to have a pop at the overall campaign but you don't have to agree or join in with every aspect or all people who fly the BLM banner to see a set of people showing solidarity and support them, or at least show them some basic decency and respect.
The first paragraph of your post answers your second one.
Oh dear.
I wonder how many posts that start with "Millwall fans" are ever positive posts
I'm not racist but I'll make the effort to boo the people taking the knee against racism. It's to do with disagreeing with the politics of BLM? Course it is...
You may not be aware that Henry Slade of the England rugby team gave exactly that reason to explain his not taking the knee last week.
There is a reason your Farages, Robinsons, Trumps and Laurence Foxes can make a good living from idiots.
The take knee stance in football has been a great gesture in solidarity amongst the players but whilst it was done behind closed doors it couldn't be used a chance for racists to use it to show their views.
It is now and how supporters, the clubs, the media and the wider world reacts now is probably the next best chance to move this protest forward and bring change. Millwall know who alot of those people booing are. Let's see what happens
Are they doing this gesture all season does anyone know? Have they said?
There's a difference between that and openly booing players taking the knee - even though I wholeheartedly disagree with that reasoning of his (I did not know what he said so am basing it off your post). Suspect he would've taken a knee if it was about one of those lovely imperial statues instead.
QPR stopped a while back and gave a very clear explanation for why. I guess carrying it on means little without actual action, but that's not the point and what Millwall fans did today was just plain racist.
Considering the abuse black players are still getting I completely understand why they and their teammates are taking the knee. Even John Terry is doing it for gawds sake! The racists cannot seem to understand players are protesting against them...and getting abuse from them. So abuse them. And so will players will continue to take the knee.
Even players who don't really believe in it would surely know that not doing it is a very visible and powerful in the wrong way, gesture.
Honestly at Millwall surely not a surprise.
There's a difference between disagreeing with reasoning and asserting that it is not sincerely offered. Without a basis for the latter, it becomes baseless ad hominem.
The FA should insist their next few games are played behind closed doors (bringing the game into disrepute or similar).
I would imagine that there were more than 2000 Millwall supporters who wanted to see their team and I would like to think their displeasure at not being allowed in again for a while may give them food for thought about the stupidity of their brethren. (Stupidly optimistic on ever level I appreciate)
I'm not convinced that anyone booing an anti-racist gesture deserves to be offered any benefit of the doubt personally.
Millwall players themselves actually released a statement yesterday before today's game stating:
“As a squad we are fully supportive of the entire football family’s efforts in ridding the sport, and society generally, of all forms of discrimination,” read the statement.
“We wish to make clear that taking the knee, for us, is in no way representative of any agreement with political messaging or ideology. It is purely about tackling discrimination, as has been the case throughout.” I guess the well-versed political theorists in the Millwall crowd disagreed with their own team and club.
(https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/football-association-condemns-fans-for-booing-anti-racism-gesture-257992)
Just had the misfortune of stumbling upon a 'statement' from, presumably, a Millwall fan group on Twitter. Apparently they're not racist, they were just standing up to anarchists and Marxists. Right...
I'm not a booer myself in pretty much any circumstances.
I like that players' statement very much. If they had more of a choice on the matter, rather than having the gesture rather imposed on them from above and given the choice to rationalise it as they have done or otherwise, I'd admire it even more.
Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, not least people you've not met nor whose actions you have witnessed or with whom you've exchanged views. It's not a binary world.
Had the misfortune of looking down that account and seeing some Millwall gran teaching her grankid a horrible song as it was - that then turned even worse.
Dreadful.
@HCblue do you honestly think players are having taking the knee imposed on them? And Millwall fans who booed were possibly not being racist?
Really strong and passionate words from Mahlon Romeo, Millwall full back here which is a very recommended read:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11735/12152721/millwalls-mahlon-romeo-slams-fans-over-booing-as-players-took-knee-in-support-of-fight-against-racial-injustic
"The fans who have been let in today have personally disrespected not just me but the football club. And what the football club and the community stand for. What they've done is booed and condemned a peaceful gesture which was put in place to highlight, combat and stop any discriminatory behaviour and racism. That's it - that's all that gesture is.
"And the fans have chosen to boo that, which for the life of me I can't understand. It has offended me and everyone who works for this club - the players and the staff.
On the first question, I think there's a considerable measure of group pressure within the players that has that effect.
On the second, yes. And though I know this is only a football forum, from experience, I credit the correspondents here with the intelligence to think beyond stereotypes and consider more the issue to be, as I said previously, to be less binary than the discussion currently might have it.
I'm not sure that peer pressure counts as having something imposed on you.