In Millwall‘s first home game with fans back in the stadiums, their supporters welcomed back their favourite players with boos. As the Millwall and Derby County players took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, a large section of the 2000 supporters at The Den could be clearly heard jeering at their players as they kneeled.
The players have been doing it in both the Championship and the Premier League since June, and have carried on doing it into the current season.
Millwall Fans Boo Players Taking Knee for Black Lives Matter
First Round of Matches With Fans
After over nine months, fans are finally back in the stadiums, albeit at a limited capacity. The FA has designated different amounts of capacity slots to different city’s, differentiated by tiers. Those in Tier 1 receive 4000 fans, Tier 2 is given 2000, and Tier 3 receives none.
Millwall is in Tier 2, which means 2000 of their supporters were dispersed throughout the stadium. It has been a great week for many fans around England, who will now be able to watch their favourite clubs in action again.
However, the Millwall fans’ actions completely overshadowed the match. Pundits have had their say, and this situation has received national coverage, whereas the match itself did not.
English Football’s New Anti-Racism Initiative
While throughout the restart the players wore ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their sleeves, that has been replaced by a ‘No Room for Racism’ on each player’s shirt. The league created this initiative in order to demonstrate that they are fully supportive of the fight against discrimination of any kind in football and beyond.
However, the Black Lives Matter movement has been slightly controversial in several parts of the world, and the Millwall fans took to the stands to voice their frustrations. The players themselves remain fully supportive of the movement, and will no doubt continue to kneel before games, as will all the Premier League and Championship teams.
This moment serves as a reminder of why the initiative has been taken in the first place, and how racism and other forms of discrimination remain an issue that must be dealt with.
Main Photo
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