No politics, kneeling for new gridiron league

WORLD wrestling tycoon Vince McMahon announced plans to relaunch a new American football league on Thursday, revealing that players would be forced to stand for the national anthem and barred from promoting social issues through the sport.

McMahon, the 72-year-old billionaire owner of WWE, said the eight-team XFL – a reboot of the competition which lasted for one season in 2001 – would kick off in 2020.

News of the launch comes as the NFL prepares to bring the curtain down on a tumultuous season following a protracted furore involving President Donald Trump.

Trump triggered uproar in September after branding players who kneeled during the anthem in protest at social injustice as “sons of bitches” who should be fired.

McMahon on Thursday said his rebooted XFL – billed as delivering “all the things you like to see, and less of the things you don’t” – would be a politics-free zone.

“I have no idea whether or not President Trump will support this,” McMahon said. “Let me say, as far as our league is concerned, it will have nothing to do with politics, and nothing to do with social issues either. We’re there to play football. We want really good football, and that’s what the fans want too.

“When they tune in, I don’t know if they want to be dealing with social issues and things of that nature. And that’s what we’re going to deliver.”

Asked if it would be written into the rules that players are required to stand, McMahon added: “There will be a booklet to make sure that all the players understand the rules.”

Cities hosting the eight franchises had yet to be decided, but McMahon said it was likely teams would be based in areas which already host NFL teams.