Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Andros Townsend

Booing England taking the knee will only make Premier League stars continue next season

The booing won’t have an effect on England’s Euro campaign.

If anything, it just gives the players even more of a reason to continue taking the knee into next season.

I didn't realise there was that much opposition to a black life mattering. I don't see how you can oppose that. That’s what we are taking the knee for, to remind people that a black life matters just as much as any other race - no more, no less, just as much.

We continually make clear in the Premier League that it is not a political statement.

But still the boos continue. That says to me, that there is still a lot of work to be done.

England were booed twice while taking the knee in recent Euro 2020 warm-up matches (The FA via Getty Images)

The outside noise will continue, of course, but on the inside our England players know and will continue to stand strong.

They’ll be saying: ‘We are taking a knee for ten seconds. Everyone knows why - and if they boo us, they boo us.’

Hopefully, we’ll get a better reception from fans if we get far enough to be playing in the knockout rounds in different stadiums and different cities around Europe.

That’s sad. But, unfortunately, it's the world we live in today.

We can’t let up. We have to keep our foot on the throttle, we have to continue fighting against injustice. And hopefully, whether I'm in the Premier League or not, they will continue taking the knee in the top division of English football next season.

I'm not nervous about any booing on Sunday. I've accepted the fact that it will happen with the world watching on TV ahead of our first game, against Croatia.

It's not a great advert for England. The people doing it have heard the explanations enough times to know that it isn’t political.

The commentators before every TV game in the Premier League, the Champions League and the domestic cup games make it clear.

But the people booing either don't care, or still don’t get it.

So I will be fighting as much as everybody else to ensure that they understand my life as a black man matters.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.