Premier League CEO, Richard Masters has stated that footballers in the league will continue to kneel in protest against racism before matches until the end of the season.
Premier league players and officials have been kneeling before kick off of matches since last season following the death of George Floyd in the United States as a way to protests against racism.
But there has been criticism of the action, as some say the action doesn’t do enough to address the challenges of racism.
Masters has now revealed that the league will discuss extending the anti-racism demonstrations ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.
“It is a big statement, it was player-led. We spent a lot of time talking to players. It was an emotional time during the pandemic,” Masters told Sky Sports.
“Going back to Project Restart, when we were talking to players, they wanted to make a statement about their thanks to the NHS and key workers and to make a stand against the events in America last
summer.
“We were happy to support the players. Perhaps for the first time, we had the Premier League, clubs and players on the same page on an important issue.
“Anti-discrimination is something we are really committed to. Last week we announced our ‘No Room for Racism’ action plan. Unfortunately, we have had to take on the social media companies with regards to online abuse.
“You will see for the rest of this season more anti-racism messages on player’s shirts and the continuation of taking the knee until the end of the season.
“It has never been an instruction, it has always been a personal choice. We have had remarkable unanimity up to this point and I expect that to continue.
“We will discuss with the players in the close season what we are going to do to continue to make our feelings clear about anti-discrimination messaging going forward.”
