Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has defended Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s decision not to take the knee before Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United, saying the striker chose to express his support for the Premier League’s anti-racism campaign by remaining on his feet.
Most Premier League players took the knee as part of the top flight’s ‘No Room for Racism’ initiative, but Calvert-Lewin stood alongside the Manchester United players at Elland Road. Leeds supporters in parts of the stadium loudly booed the gesture as players went down.
Everton’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Ipswich Town’s Issa Diop and Manchester City’s Marc Guehi also remained standing during Saturday’s matches. Bournemouth’s Rayan and Tyler Adams did likewise before their game on Sunday.
“Dom is more or less like, ‘No, I don’t go down. I show my respect by standing up.’ Every individual is different and shows respect for this campaign in a different way,” Farke said.
“It’s definitely a good campaign and a good topic that football and sports, in general, support situations like this because a dressing room is a perfect example of how we should all live together.
“Different passports, different languages, different religions, but they are all together as human beings and friends who work together toward one target. This is how the world should be.”
Players and staff have the opportunity to take the knee over the next two gameweeks in October. The Premier League says the gesture underlines its “commitment to tackling discrimination and highlight the importance of diversity in football”.
The gesture was introduced in the UK in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in US police custody helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement. Players initially took the knee before every match, but that policy ended in August 2022. Premier League captains subsequently agreed to continue the gesture twice each season, during rounds linked to the ‘No Room For Racism’ campaign.
Calvert-Lewin also declined to kneel during Burnley’s match against Leeds last year, while Crysencio Summerville has previously made the same choice. Wilfried Zaha said in 2021 that kneeling felt “degrading” because his parents had taught him to be proud to be black and to “stand tall”. At Chelsea, Marcos Alonso pointed to the ‘No Room For Racism’ badge on his sleeve instead.
Luton indicated before the 2021-22 season that they would not take the knee, with their players standing in the centre circle instead.
In 2021, some supporters’ criticism prompted Burnley captain Ben Mee to say: “It gets to the point where if you’re booing, it doesn’t look good on those individuals that are booing. Disappointed, but there was a lot of positive there as well.
“Support us in what we’re trying to achieve as a group of players and a football community.”
The England women’s team chose not to kneel before their Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy last year after defender Jess Carter suffered racist abuse on social media. Captain Lucy Bronze said the message was “not as strong as it used to be”.
“It was driven by the group – obviously certain individuals more than others,” Bronze said. “I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? Because to us it feels like it’s not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives.
“It’s about putting another statement out there to say, it’s something that still is a problem, it’s something that still needs to be put right. More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don’t exactly know.”
Piara Powar, head of international anti-discrimination organisation Fare, questioned that decision.
“The players have taken a decision to stop taking the knee, which is their right,” he told BBC Sport. “Personally don’t see the link between the two. The taking of the knee is a powerful anti-racist act and this England team have shown leadership across Europe in taking it for so long.
“Powerful actions are needed right now, to deal with the issues that are being played out as we speak.”
Guehi was also reprimanded in 2024 after writing “I love Jesus” on a modified Premier League captain’s armband promoting LGBTQ rights while captain of Crystal Palace. In the following match, he wore an armband bearing the words “Jesus loves you”.
