England v Denmark – UEFA Euro 2020 – Semi Final – Wembley Stadium
(Picture: PA Wire)It was an anti-racist gesture which - somehow - faced criticism from some supporters, but it’s been revealed that people are now more in support of England’s men’s team taking the knee compared to the start of the Euro 2020 tournament.
Originating in America, taking the knee is associated with the global Black Lives Matter movement and protests following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Such a gesture against something as abhorrent as racism should, surely, be supported by everyone. Yet, after Gareth Southgate’s team started doing it at the beginning of every match, a video of a man booing his TV screen went viral, Home Secretary Priti Patel called it “gesture politics” and one Tory MP has boycotted England’s matches during Euro 2020 altogether.
It didn’t faze Southgate, however, as he said the team were “more than ever determined to take the knee” and would ignore any adverse reactions from fans during the contest. Meanwhile, the Football Association (FA) said in a statement that the “gesture of unity and fighting against inequality” is “not new”.
“There can be no doubt as to why the players are taking the knee and what it represents in a footballing context,” they wrote.
Interestingly, though, people appear to have been distracted from booing – like a really bad poltergeist – given England’s success in the tournament. Ahead of their playing Italy in the final on Sunday night, the pollsters over at Opinium have found that support for taking the knee has in fact risen as the games went on.
In a post on Twitter, the organisation shared a graphic which showed that opposition was at 37% at the very start of the Euros, while support was higher up at 50%.
That gap has apparently widened even more ahead of tonight’s big match, with support and opposition at 56% and 32% respectively.
Support for “taking the knee” has increased as England have progressed through the tournament pic.twitter.com/vrn1IuV4rN
— Opinium (@OpiniumResearch) July 10, 2021
Once again, supporters of taking the knee have used the findings as a good opportunity to ridicule those who criticise it:
The anti taking the knee line is getting so low, their supporters will have to get down on one knee to see it. https://t.co/TdNNuJimhw
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) July 10, 2021
Football is far from perfect, but the current #eng squad are making it a little bit better. Southgate has improved English football on every levels. ❤️ https://t.co/kdHBIiP9FZ
— Dr Andrew Holding (@AndrewHolding) July 10, 2021
No, Southgate and the England team aren't going to end the culture wars on their own, but this chart shows (a) more people *always* supported taking the knee than didn't (contrary to the narrative of the right, that it's only a tiny bunch of liberals) and (b) that positivity... https://t.co/VC4LXW1yxj
— Christabel Cooper (@ChristabelCoops) July 11, 2021
https://t.co/ltAy2Su1cI pic.twitter.com/olVb6ejxHQ
— TedWilkes (@TedWilkes) July 10, 2021
Another example of the culture war paradox - conventionally, people think that the right want to fight such wars and benefit from them, yet public opinion keeps on moving in the other direction. https://t.co/3XC9FPUASc
— Mark Pack 🔶 (@markpack) July 10, 2021
As great as this is to see, it's depressing to think what this might look like had England gone out in the group stages https://t.co/8ZwGxMhv6y
— Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️ (@GraceOnFootball) July 10, 2021
Reassuring to know that the majority of the British public are on the ball…
