Manchester City and England defender Marc Guehi has questioned whether taking the knee still carries the same meaning, after becoming one of six Premier League players to remain standing before kick-off this weekend.
The gesture was part of the Premier League’s ‘No Room for Racism’ campaign, which aims to challenge discrimination. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rayan, Tyler Adams and Issa Diop were the other players not to take the knee.
Asked about his decision before Manchester City’s Champions League match against AEK Athens, Guehi said the campaign and its message remained important, but suggested more action was needed.
“I’m not sure to be honest. The campaign’s still there, which is great,” he said. “The message is still there, which is great. Whether more can be done? More can always be done. So I think we have to see how we can move the campaign along.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a football issue, it’s a wider societal issue and football is just that beacon of, I guess, hope, to try to get the message out. But whether more can be done – we’ll try, hopefully with the PFA, with the league, we’ll see what can be done.”
When asked directly whether the gesture had lost its meaning, Guehi replied: “Maybe. I haven’t been taking the knee for a while now.
“I’d always clap just because of what that actually signifies but in terms of if something can be done, hopefully.
“I hope we can do a bit more but we’ll just see. Hopefully the message is getting out there which is the most important thing.”
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke said Calvert-Lewin had chosen to show his support by standing before Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United. The striker scored the goal that earned Leeds a point at Elland Road.
“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,” said Farke.
He added that football’s diverse dressing rooms demonstrated how people should live together, with players of different nationalities, languages and religions working towards a common goal.
Some sections of Elland Road loudly booed as the players took the knee, amid concern that the gesture has become less effective since it was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Players have previously chosen not to take part. Calvert-Lewin did so during Burnley’s match with Leeds last year, while Crysencio Summerville has also been known to remain standing.
Wilfried Zaha said in 2021 that he found taking the knee “degrading”, explaining that he had been taught to be proud to be black and felt people should “stand tall”. At Chelsea, Marcos Alonso pointed instead to the Premier League’s ‘No Room For Racism’ badge on his sleeve.
Luton said before the 2021-22 season that they would not take the knee, with their players standing in the centre circle. The gesture was performed before every match until August 2022, when it was limited to fixtures during the ‘No Room For Racism’ initiative. Premier League captains agreed it would continue twice per season.
Players and staff can perform the gesture during the next two gameweeks in October. The initiative began in the UK in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in US police custody, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
