Players from the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars knelt during the playing of the US national anthem in London on Sunday, in the first NFL game since President Donald Trump condemned players who are protesting against racial inequality.
Several players from both teams took a knee during the rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner as it was sung at Wembley Stadium while other players stood and locked arms in solidarity.
It was one of the largest protests by NFL players during the national anthem since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first began refusing to stand for the anthem in 2016.
The league is expected to see widespread protests later Sunday when the full schedule of fixtures take place in games across the US.
Sunday’s protest came after Trump triggered uproar on Friday by saying that players who protested during the anthem should be sacked.
“NFL attendance and ratings are way down. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back US.” On Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement criticising Trump’s comments.
“Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players,” Goodell wrote. The protests began in August 2016, when Kaepernick refused to stand during playing of the national anthem in protest at the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.
It followed the high-profile deaths of several unarmed black men during confrontations with police officers. Kaepernick was widely ostracised for his stance and has since been unable to find an employer in the NFL, which is America’s most popular professional sports league.
However support for Kaepernick’s position has since snowballed, given added momentum by Trump’s latest salvo.
Trump says NFL players’ protest ‘nothing to do with race’
US President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that an intensifying feud with National Football League players who won’t stand during the US national anthem to draw attention to social injustice, has “nothing to do with race.”
Trump spoke after players of America’s most popular sport took a defiant stand, in the largest such demonstration since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the protests in 2016.
Trump has ignited a firestorm of criticism after comments on Friday in which he described NFL players who chose to take a knee through renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “sons of bitches” who should be fired.
The US leader doubled down on those remarks early Sunday, urging fans to boycott the NFL as long as the protests continued, and demanding team owners to “fire or suspend” players who take a knee.
Before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey to head back to Washington, Trump declined to repeat the comments he posted on Twitter earlier, saying instead the protests were “disrespectful to our country and very disrespectful to our flag.”
“We have a great country. We have great people representing our country, especially our soldiers and first responders. They can be treated with respect,” Trump said, speaking under the wing of the plane.
“When you get on your knee and you don’t respect the American flag or the anthem that is not being treated with respect… This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country, and respect for our flag.”
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