NFL rallies around players protesting Trump

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Players from across the National Football League (NFL) staged a show of solidarity before Sunday’s games by kneeling, linking arms or staying off the field during the US national anthem, defying President Donald Trump’s call for owners to fire those who refuse to stand.

Along the sidelines of NFL games both across the country and in London, coaches, support staff and even some owners joined team members in a silent response to Trump’s weekend denunciation of players who kneel during the anthem, deeming them unpatriotic.

In a gesture initiated last season by then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, several NFL players have routinely “taken a knee” during the playing of the anthem. It is intended to call attention to what the protesting players see as a pattern of racism in the treatment of African-Americans by US police.

Jacksonville Jaguars players kneel during the US national anthem before the match, September 24, 2017. /Reuters Photo

In Detroit, several members of the Lions knelt while singer Rico Lavelle dropped to one knee and pumped a fist in the air at the end of his performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

In Philadelphia, city police officers joined with Eagles and New York Giants players and Eagles team owner Jeffrey Lurie to link arms during the anthem in a sign of solidarity.

While some Americans are sympathetic to the protesters, others see the refusal to stand as a sign of disrespect for the flag and for members of the military who have sacrificed or died in defending the country.

Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens players after the game, September 24, 2017 /Reuters Photo

Trump rekindled the controversy on Friday at an Alabama political rally in which he suggested any protesting player was a “son of a bitch” and urged owners to dismiss them on the spot, reprising his reality-show catch phrase: “You’re fired.”

This plays well with Trump’s conservative base at a time when the Republican president is grappling with the Democratic Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear threats, an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a healthcare struggle in Congress.

NBA PLAYERS RESPOND

National Basketball Association (NBA) players also struck back against comments by the president on Saturday after Trump clashed with one of the biggest stars in the league, Stephen Curry.

Then on Saturday evening, Oakland A's rookie Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel for the national anthem in protest.

Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell kneels during the National Anthem before the start of Saturday's game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland Coliseum. /AP Photo

In a Twitter message, Trump rescinded a White House invitation to Curry, who had said he would “vote” against the planned visit by the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

Curry told a news conference in Oakland, California: “It’s beneath the leader of a country to go that route.”

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump said the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, which won the Stanley Cup, accepted his invitation to the White House. “Great team!” he wrote.

Source(s): Reuters