Fans reaction at Millwall to BLM

[IDM]

Excuse me, but it was AL who first suggested that the booing was about the association with the far political aims of BLM, not me.  Notwithstanding that, booing during taking the knee certainly didn’t give that impression whether it’s at Millwall or anywhere else.

If you can’t engage in debate about the point, but resort to things like what planet etc, then I’ll sink to your level.  Piss off the both of you.

For what it is worth, I think it is fair to debate whether taking the knee should continue at football or not - or is there a better way to demonstrate against racism..

Just so out of touch with what people think you are. For what it's worth I don't see footballers being political. To say nobody other than Millwall does you are just stupid

I didn’t say just Millwall - but they have been the “headline”‘ recently..

Also, taking the knee is not political - it’s a statement against racism between human beings which transcends political beliefs.

Stupid.??

[IDM]

Excuse me, but it was AL who first suggested that the booing was about the association with the far political aims of BLM, not me.  Notwithstanding that, booing during taking the knee certainly didn’t give that impression whether it’s at Millwall or anywhere else.

If you can’t engage in debate about the point, but resort to things like what planet etc, then I’ll sink to your level.  Piss off the both of you.

For what it is worth, I think it is fair to debate whether taking the knee should continue at football or not - or is there a better way to demonstrate against racism..

Lighten up IDM. Just banter. Lowest form of wit I accept. No malice intended.
And I’ve been politely debating the subject on this thread.
I don’t believe it’s in anyone’s interest to continue taking the knee. It’s seen by too many to be devisive and there is an unquestionable negative stigma now attached to it. Rightly or wrongly.
I have faith in The kick it out and red card campaign. They are supported across the board by players, clubs and supporters as well as sponsors of these campaigns.
Perhaps it’s time all clubs re invigorated their efforts in this regard.

Point taken NR but “banter” isn’t always apparent in a block of text on a forum.!  Apologies for my reaction - I believe I have realistic and honest views and I stand by them..

As for taking the knee - if the players still want to do it, then I support that.. it is up to them to decide how or even if they wish to make a stand against racism.

[Bentley Bullet]

People do have the choice of taking the knee or not, but the decision not to comes with consequences. Certain members of the public will accuse those who don't take the knee of being racist. They will be the same people who called Brexiters racist.

 

[Axholme Lion]

This sums up our feelings. I have taken this from a piece written by one or caveman, racist supporters who happens to be a journalist in his spare time between fighting.


It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of Black Lives Matter last week were not better acquainted with one of the British BLM leaders, Sasha Johnson — they might have taken a knee themselves out of admiration. In August Ms Johnson tweeted: ‘The white man will not be our equal but our slave.’ If there is one thing Millwall supporters respect it’s aspiration, and Ms Johnson has that in abundance. I am sure the FA, the English Football League, and indeed the Millwall club board, who condemned the booing, all wish Sasha the best of luck in her exciting project.

 One voice should not be allowed to demean an entire movement, of course. The trouble is — and it is so tiresome to have to point this out every time the issue is raised — Ms Johnson’s views are not especially extreme in a foul organisation that wishes to dismantle capitalism and the family. Taking a knee signals support for the organisation, not for racial equality, and that is the end of the story. The football authorities and the broadcasters were very clear about this when football resumed in June after lockdown. Players would be asked to take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, upper case, and the point was reinforced by players, commentators and pundits wearing Black Lives Matter badges. So Millwall’s assertion that taking a knee was in no way an endorsement of BLM’s political objectives, but simply a gesture in support of love, peace and happiness among all peoples, is deceitful, cowardly and ludicrous. It is like stretching out your right arm, shouting ‘Sieg Heil!’ and then telling onlookers: ‘It’s just a gesture — nothing to do with old Adolf, mate.’

Taking a knee signals support for a foul organisation, not for racial equality

 Such a confected furore whipped up by the bed-wetting, obsessive liberal left and their useful halfwits in the media: Barney Ronay, Adrian Durham, the perennially smug Lineker. I knew there would be booing the minute I heard fans would be allowed into the fixture. Of course they would boo. They hate BLM and on that issue I’m with them. They have no problem with football’s Kick It Out campaign, which is genuinely and simply anti-racist. They have no problem whatsoever with black players and are delighted to vote a Muslim Comorian, Nadjim Abdou, player of the year twice. We had black players at Millwall long before most clubs, and black supporters on the terraces — including one or two very useful members of our highly regarded and psycho-pathically vicious ‘firm’ — back when Guardian editorial meetings were whiter than a Ku Klux Klan dinner dance. So cut out the hand-wringing, the lectures and the cant. Millwall fans booed the taking--a-knee business because they have no more time for BLM than they do for meaningless corporate virtue-signalling and they resent the fascistic insistence that everyone must bow down — literally, these days — before the empty and deluded attitudinising of the woke left.

 Four hours before kick-off on Saturday I read the following from a Millwall fan on the club’s largest supporters’ online forum. (If you are a Guardian reader I assume you think I’m about to translate the comments from the original Neanderthal grunts. No. Really, I don’t need to.) The poster addressed his remarks: ‘FAO: The Players.’ It had been made clear that Millwall players would take a knee and this troubled the supporter — who, like me, knew there would be booing and thus trouble. (Frankly, how the idiots who run the club didn’t work it out is an eternal mystery, not least because the press officer never answers his phone.) Anyway, this particular fan implored the players not to take the knee and added:

“The whole BLM movement is insulting to many because it seeks to destroy our country’s values. I don’t mean nationalism or jingoism but the values that unite people across the political spectrum. A belief in the rule of law, free speech, respect for others and the social justice that many of our forebears had to fight for in the trade union movement.

 Your excuse for supporting this movement is an insult to our intelligence and an overtly political statement. It’s particularly damaging at this time when so many fans are suffering financial hardship that you couldn’t even begin to understand. By supporting BLM you are not healing divisions but creating them. I fear that your actions will cause not just a division between players and fans but a gulf of betrayal that will never be bridged.

 If you want to campaign against discrimination then please do so, but supporting BLM is the wrong way to do it.

 That is why the fans booed. Not because they are racists. It is why the fans booed at Colchester United too. And at West Ham, our despised rivals. It is why there was widespread booing at one of the first American ‘soccer’ games to which fans were admitted after lockdown in July, between FC Dallas and Nashville SC. It is quite possibly why the Premier League and the broadcasters quietly ditched their adherence when someone with half a brain cell pointed out what BLM stands for. It is why other clubs, such as QPR, Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough, decided to stop taking the knee, before they were dragooned back into it. This is the thing: the hypocrisy of it all — the footballing authorities who themselves, rightly, ditched BLM becoming sanctimonious about fans booing a gesture in support of BLM.

 What do the British people think? An opinion poll for Mail Online in July found that 67 per cent supported Boris Johnson’s decision not to take a knee. Only 13 per cent thought he was wrong. And there you have our problem. On this issue, as on so many, we are dictated to by the shrieking 13 per cent.

[DonnyOsmond]

People do have the choice of taking the knee or not, but the decision not to comes with consequences. Certain members of the public will accuse those who don't take the knee of being racist. They will be the same people who called Brexiters racist.

 

Or like QPR where no one batted any eyelid at them stopping.

[bpoolrover]

As there is so much controversy over it would it not be better to come up with that every person can support

[Bentley Bullet]

People do have the choice of taking the knee or not, but the decision not to comes with consequences. Certain members of the public will accuse those who don't take the knee of being racist. They will be the same people who called Brexiters racist.

 

Or like QPR where no one batted any eyelid at them stopping.

Give over! There will be some people who will call that giving in to racism, not least on this very site!

[IDM]

This sums up our feelings. I have taken this from a piece written by one or caveman, racist supporters who happens to be a journalist in his spare time between fighting.


It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of Black Lives Matter last week were not better acquainted with one of the British BLM leaders, Sasha Johnson — they might have taken a knee themselves out of admiration. In August Ms Johnson tweeted: ‘The white man will not be our equal but our slave.’ If there is one thing Millwall supporters respect it’s aspiration, and Ms Johnson has that in abundance. I am sure the FA, the English Football League, and indeed the Millwall club board, who condemned the booing, all wish Sasha the best of luck in her exciting project.

 One voice should not be allowed to demean an entire movement, of course. The trouble is — and it is so tiresome to have to point this out every time the issue is raised — Ms Johnson’s views are not especially extreme in a foul organisation that wishes to dismantle capitalism and the family. Taking a knee signals support for the organisation, not for racial equality, and that is the end of the story. The football authorities and the broadcasters were very clear about this when football resumed in June after lockdown. Players would be asked to take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, upper case, and the point was reinforced by players, commentators and pundits wearing Black Lives Matter badges. So Millwall’s assertion that taking a knee was in no way an endorsement of BLM’s political objectives, but simply a gesture in support of love, peace and happiness among all peoples, is deceitful, cowardly and ludicrous. It is like stretching out your right arm, shouting ‘Sieg Heil!’ and then telling onlookers: ‘It’s just a gesture — nothing to do with old Adolf, mate.’

Taking a knee signals support for a foul organisation, not for racial equality

 Such a confected furore whipped up by the bed-wetting, obsessive liberal left and their useful halfwits in the media: Barney Ronay, Adrian Durham, the perennially smug Lineker. I knew there would be booing the minute I heard fans would be allowed into the fixture. Of course they would boo. They hate BLM and on that issue I’m with them. They have no problem with football’s Kick It Out campaign, which is genuinely and simply anti-racist. They have no problem whatsoever with black players and are delighted to vote a Muslim Comorian, Nadjim Abdou, player of the year twice. We had black players at Millwall long before most clubs, and black supporters on the terraces — including one or two very useful members of our highly regarded and psycho-pathically vicious ‘firm’ — back when Guardian editorial meetings were whiter than a Ku Klux Klan dinner dance. So cut out the hand-wringing, the lectures and the cant. Millwall fans booed the taking--a-knee business because they have no more time for BLM than they do for meaningless corporate virtue-signalling and they resent the fascistic insistence that everyone must bow down — literally, these days — before the empty and deluded attitudinising of the woke left.

 Four hours before kick-off on Saturday I read the following from a Millwall fan on the club’s largest supporters’ online forum. (If you are a Guardian reader I assume you think I’m about to translate the comments from the original Neanderthal grunts. No. Really, I don’t need to.) The poster addressed his remarks: ‘FAO: The Players.’ It had been made clear that Millwall players would take a knee and this troubled the supporter — who, like me, knew there would be booing and thus trouble. (Frankly, how the idiots who run the club didn’t work it out is an eternal mystery, not least because the press officer never answers his phone.) Anyway, this particular fan implored the players not to take the knee and added:

“The whole BLM movement is insulting to many because it seeks to destroy our country’s values. I don’t mean nationalism or jingoism but the values that unite people across the political spectrum. A belief in the rule of law, free speech, respect for others and the social justice that many of our forebears had to fight for in the trade union movement.

 Your excuse for supporting this movement is an insult to our intelligence and an overtly political statement. It’s particularly damaging at this time when so many fans are suffering financial hardship that you couldn’t even begin to understand. By supporting BLM you are not healing divisions but creating them. I fear that your actions will cause not just a division between players and fans but a gulf of betrayal that will never be bridged.

 If you want to campaign against discrimination then please do so, but supporting BLM is the wrong way to do it.

 That is why the fans booed. Not because they are racists. It is why the fans booed at Colchester United too. And at West Ham, our despised rivals. It is why there was widespread booing at one of the first American ‘soccer’ games to which fans were admitted after lockdown in July, between FC Dallas and Nashville SC. It is quite possibly why the Premier League and the broadcasters quietly ditched their adherence when someone with half a brain cell pointed out what BLM stands for. It is why other clubs, such as QPR, Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough, decided to stop taking the knee, before they were dragooned back into it. This is the thing: the hypocrisy of it all — the footballing authorities who themselves, rightly, ditched BLM becoming sanctimonious about fans booing a gesture in support of BLM.

 What do the British people think? An opinion poll for Mail Online in July found that 67 per cent supported Boris Johnson’s decision not to take a knee. Only 13 per cent thought he was wrong. And there you have our problem. On this issue, as on so many, we are dictated to by the shrieking 13 per cent.

There are extremes on either side of any political spectrum and of any argument.  There always will be.  But the majority of people, I do believe, are nowhere near those extremes.  If you vote Tory that doesn’t make you a nazi, nor does voting Labour make you a Marxist.

Following that logic supporting the principles of equality of race which use Black Lives Matter as a slogan is just as distanced from those holding th extreme views posted in relation to the Black Lives Matter political movement.

So for sure, there will probably be some knee taking footballers who do support BLM politics, but I would bet the vast majority only do it as a protest against racism.

Millwall has been highlighted by the booing - they may not be alone - and re-emphasised by the above post, as suggesting that taking the knee does equate to supporting the extreme political views held by some in the BLM movement.

I would be absolutely certain too that most Millwall supporters are not racists, but I do think that booing taking the knee sends out the wrong impression, intentional or not.

[DonnyOsmond]

As there is so much controversy over it would it not be better to come up with that every person can support

Why pander to the right wing snowflakes though?

[Axholme Lion]

As there is so much controversy over it would it not be better to come up with that every person can support

Why pander to the right wing snowflakes though?

Despite the proof that the booing was not racist you still think it is ok for players to/be made to do a knee but not for paying spectators to voice their valid opinion in response. I suggest you are the snowflake by forcing your opinion on others but allowing no reply.

[sha66y]

There’s only one way to stomp out Peoples dislike for other people’s ethnicity.....listen to Depeche Mode!

People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully? ( repeat)

I’m not only taking a kneee......I’m positively snake-hipping

[DonnyOsmond]

As there is so much controversy over it would it not be better to come up with that every person can support

Why pander to the right wing snowflakes though?

Despite the proof that the booing was not racist you still think it is ok for players to/be made to do a knee but not for paying spectators to voice their valid opinion in response. I suggest you are the snowflake by forcing your opinion on others but allowing no reply.

No need to cry about it Hun.

[wilts rover]

As there is so much controversy over it would it not be better to come up with that every person can support

Why pander to the right wing snowflakes though?

Despite the proof that the booing was not racist you still think it is ok for players to/be made to do a knee but not for paying spectators to voice their valid opinion in response. I suggest you are the snowflake by forcing your opinion on others but allowing no reply.

'proof the booing was not rascist'

From that noted left-wing rag, The Sun

'Just imagine the mindset which allows somebody to think ‘ haven’t been to the match for nine months, the first thing I want to do is boo the concept of racial equality’.

Tonight QPR visit Millwall and the two clubs have agreed to link arms instead.

Players may still take the knee — and kudos to anyone who does because, while such pondlife still infects football and wider society, the need for action remains.

This is not just a Millwall problem, though.

Remember the boneheads of the Burnley Air Force flying a ‘White Lives Matter’ banner over the Etihad, only to be shot down verbally by the club’s excellent captain Ben Mee?

And this weekend there was also booing of players taking the knee at Colchester, whose chairman Robbie Cowling has offered to refund season-ticket money to supporters who cannot at least respectfully tolerate the action.

But it would be ridiculous to suggest Millwall do not have a deep-seated problem with racism.

The club were fined last year after racist chanting in an FA Cup match against Everton and the response of their supporters’ group to Saturday’s booing pandered to the ‘I’m Not Racist But . . . ’ mentality.

Some Millwall supporters suggest they were booing Marxism rather than anti-racism, due to apparent links between the Black Lives Matter movement and far-left politics.

As if professional footballers are all Marxist sympathisers, or are stupid enough to be duped into supporting such ideas. Not likely.

Some continue to claim sport and politics should never mix — always a strange idea but stranger than ever after Marcus Rashford’s extraordinary success in campaigning against child poverty.

Liam Rosenior — who, like Rashford, seems a far more eloquent politician than any of our actual politicians — gave an excellent interview on the issue on Sunday.

The Derby coach, who is helping to choose the next FA chairman but should just appoint himself, called out cabinet minister George Eustice for pedalling the myth that taking the knee was linked to Marxism.

Rosenior suggested Millwall fans might even have done us a favour by refocusing minds against ignorance and prejudice.

And supporters of Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool widely applauded the taking of the knee this weekend, presumably in direct response to events at The Den.

Because taking the knee will only become a meaningless gesture once racism is eradicated from football and society.

And Millwall fans have reminded us there are still plenty of thick skulls we need to penetrate.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/13411758/millwall-black-lives-matter-racism-knee-qpr/

[no eyed deer]

Far too many clubs think they are doing there bit by taking to the knee. Its what happens behind the scenes that count.

Just wonder how many players only do it so not to be classed a racist

Freedom of speech is now dead, unless it's a liberal left view, which seems to be overtaking the world.

Of course what goes on behind the scenes is important but if the aim is showing solidarity then I dont see how anyone who genuinely opposes racism has any issue with players taking a knee if they choose as our players all have.


Have you seen who is prime minister and who is president of the USA?

No sorry who is president

[no eyed deer]

Far too many clubs think they are doing there bit by taking to the knee. Its what happens behind the scenes that count.

Just wonder how many players only do it so not to be classed a racist

Freedom of speech is now dead, unless it's a liberal left view, which seems to be overtaking the world.

Sounds like you're throwing the word liberal around the same as people are with Marxist. You can't be liberal and forcing people into your view.

By the way, does free speech allow someone to be racist to someone else without repercussions?

So you cant be liberal and force your view ?

Tell the BBC that.

[DonnyOsmond]

Far too many clubs think they are doing there bit by taking to the knee. Its what happens behind the scenes that count.

Just wonder how many players only do it so not to be classed a racist

Freedom of speech is now dead, unless it's a liberal left view, which seems to be overtaking the world.

Sounds like you're throwing the word liberal around the same as people are with Marxist. You can't be liberal and forcing people into your view.

By the way, does free speech allow someone to be racist to someone else without repercussions?

So you cant be liberal and force your view ?

Tell the BBC that.

Usually yeah. A liberal tends to respect opinions different from their own, within reason. You might be thinking of the woke brigade.

What do the BBC force on you?

[no eyed deer]

Far too many clubs think they are doing there bit by taking to the knee. Its what happens behind the scenes that count.

Just wonder how many players only do it so not to be classed a racist

Freedom of speech is now dead, unless it's a liberal left view, which seems to be overtaking the world.

Sounds like you're throwing the word liberal around the same as people are with Marxist. You can't be liberal and forcing people into your view.

By the way, does free speech allow someone to be racist to someone else without repercussions?

So you cant be liberal and force your view ?

Tell the BBC that.

Usually yeah. A liberal tends to respect opinions different from their own, within reason. You might be thinking of the woke brigade.

What do the BBC force on you?

Well....if you dont see it, you don't see it.

[IDM]

What the hell is “woke”.?  I’ve seen it used a lot recently but never really seen how it’s defined..

[normal rules]

Wikipedia.

A protest in St. Paul against police brutality by Black Lives Matter supporters which popularized the widespread use of the word woke
Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a political term originating in the United States referring to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.[1] It derives from the African-American Vernacular English expression "stay woke", whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.
First used in the 1940s, the term has resurfaced in recent years as a concept that symbolises perceived awareness of social issues and movement. By the late 2010s, woke had been adopted as a more generic slang term broadly associated with left-wing politics, social justice activism and socially liberal causes such as LGBT rights and feminism (with the terms woke culture, woke politics and woke left also being used). It has also been the subject of memes, ironic usage and criticism.[2][3] Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.[1][4]

[Axholme Lion]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/millwall-attempting-ban-sky-sports-23165147

Sky have ruined modern football. It would be nice for all teams to say they are not welcome.

[Glyn_Wigley]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/millwall-attempting-ban-sky-sports-23165147

Sky have ruined modern football. It would be nice for all teams to say they are not welcome.

Then at the next live Millwall game on Sky, get your mates to boo your players throughout the match to condemn them for daring to play under the Sky jackboot. Be consistent!

[Axholme Lion]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/millwall-attempting-ban-sky-sports-23165147

Sky have ruined modern football. It would be nice for all teams to say they are not welcome.

Then at the next live Millwall game on Sky, get your mates to boo your players throughout the match to condemn them for daring to play under the Sky jackboot. Be consistent!

I suppose that makes sense in your head. You are talking b****cks.

[Glyn_Wigley]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/millwall-attempting-ban-sky-sports-23165147

Sky have ruined modern football. It would be nice for all teams to say they are not welcome.

Then at the next live Millwall game on Sky, get your mates to boo your players throughout the match to condemn them for daring to play under the Sky jackboot. Be consistent!

I suppose that makes sense in your head. You are talking b****cks.

That seems to be the language of choice in this thread so I thought I'd join in.