Trump, The Sports Fan, Says He Won’t Watch NFL, US Soccer If Players Kneel During Anthem

President Donald Trump has said he will not watch National Football League (NFL) or U.S. soccer team matches if players do not stand for the national anthem.

The U.S. Soccer Federation last week said it had dropped its requirement that players stand during the anthem, saying the policy was wrong and detracted from the Black Lives Matter movement.

The policy was adopted in 2017 after U.S. women’s national team member Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the anthem before a game, in solidarity with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who in 2016 started kneeling in protest of a flag he said represents “a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

United States’ Megan Rapinoe (R) kneels next to teammates Christen Press (12), Ali Krieger (11), Crystal Dunn (16) and Ashlyn Harris (22) as the national anthem is played before the team’s exhibition soccer match against the Netherlands in Atlanta on Sept. 18, 2016. (John Bazemore/AP Photo)

“I won’t be watching much anymore,” Trump wrote on Twitter late on Saturday in response to a report of Republican congressman Matt Gaetz criticising U.S. Soccer’s move.

“And it looks like the NFL is heading in that direction also, but not with me watching,” Trump said.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this month that the league had made mistakes in not listening to players and denounced racism in the country.

The issue returned to the fore last month after the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck.

Trump has been a vocal critic of players kneeling during the anthem, previously writing on Twitter that NFL players who did so were “disrespecting our Country & our Flag.”

Good

Let’s all BOYCOTT

Send a KNOCKOUT MESSAGE to the overpaid bigots

Who NEVER mention BLAKC on EVERYBODY CRIME

Want to make a difference, sports world? Start shouting from the rooftops about THAT

Pshaw. This is what started this. He is who started this. Kaepernick should be a silly person in a distant memory.

This Godell should have stayed the flag represents the constitution. The constitution does not stand for racism. That is a fact written.

He did not say that. By condoning the kneeling godell perpetuated this.

Keep politics out of sports period.
It is bad for our youngsters to see grown men and women disrespecting our Nation's flag.
The athletes are being paid to play NOT paid to show their political feelings.

A show of political feelings by any player in any sport should be banned.

“ My question is: Why, if you play on a US sports team, sponsored and paid for by taxpayers, do you think you have a right or obligation to kneel during the national Anthem?”

Because Godell said it was ok.

Because the wimps in the stand did not and do not walk out at the sight of tge kneeling.

It is the most disgusting thing that has happened in this country since roe v Wade.

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