WILL WOODS TAKE THE KNEE? DON’T BET ON IT
WHAT a delicious twist of fate the President’s Cup should be taking place this week, of all weeks, and in Donald Trump’s hometown of New York to boot.
Are there any players representing the United States in this biennial match against the Rest of the World ready to join the sporting protest movement currently exercising the country and take a knee when the national anthem plays at the opening ceremony on Thursday?
Will the vice-captain Tiger Woods, who has had his own runins with the police this year, of course, throw off a lifetime of caution and stand shoulder to shoulder — or rather kneel — with other prominent black athletes such as LeBron James and the golf-obsessed Steph Curry?
Imagine the electrifying effect that would have on the matter.
It will certainly be the hot topic when the team gather and face the press for the match beginning on Friday.
Chances are nothing will happen when the national anthem is played, of course. This is golf, after all. Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka will probably have no idea what the journalists are on about. Aren’t we here to hit some long drives and make some birdies?
It will certainly be nothing like the amazing scenes we saw at American football matches on Sunday.
Reacting to Trump’s incendiary remarks that players taking a knee to protest what they perceive as racial injustice pursued by his regime were ‘sons of bitches,’ and ought to be fired for ‘disrespecting the flag,’ hundreds more exercised their constitutional right and duly knelt. Since then, other sporting stars have spoken out and now the spotlight is about to shine on Trump’s favourite pastime.
While you might be right in thinking most top players have no truck with politics — or hold views more right wing than the polarising President himself — it is unfair to paint them all that way.
Take Peter Malnati, who won a PGA Tour title in 2015. He said in a statement: ‘Those who kneel during the national anthem aren’t disrespecting the heroes who sacrificed to defend the United States.
‘They are pointing out that, as a nation, we are not doing a good job of upholding the values for which people sacrificed.
‘When players take a knee and the gut reaction of the President is to call them a son of a bitch, I ask you, what do you stand for?
‘As for me, I stand for freedom and justice for all. I stand for equality, empathy and compassion. I kneel to hubris and greed. Therefore, I take a knee for the flag that represents this administration. Not because I don’t love this country but because I do.’
Is there anyone else with similar views representing the United States at the President’s Cup — I know, the irony — who’s prepared to take a knee? At the very least, it has finally provided a damn good reason to tune in to what is usually the most forgettable part of these showpiece team occasions — the opening ceremony.
IN THE year since Colin Kaepernick crossed a rarely breached line, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has discovered how it feels to be ostracised.
He should have been back in the colours of one of the sides who considered signing him, when the new NFL season started this month, and the Baltimore Ravens came closest. But nothing materialised. It is hard to believe that anything but his decision to break rank and protest made this so.
Kaepernick was drifting into the margins of sport until Donald Trump opened the debate the 29-year-old always wanted on Friday night, declaring that players who had knelt or raised fists for the Star-Spangled Banner over perceived racial injustice were ‘sons of bitches’ and suggesting they should be fired by team owners.
A tide of indignation in the three days since has seen more than 20 players kneeling at Wembley before the Jacksonville Jaguars’ victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell declaring he was ‘proud’ to see the defiance displayed at each one of Sunday’s NFL matches.
This is rich vindication for Kaepernick, who has demonstrated that playing elite sport and having a belief system are not mutually exclusive.
If only this was so within the ranks of the choreographed Premier League, where every word is weighed.
Let’s just say that England striker Harry Kane’s thoughts on Brexit were not nuanced when he was asked about it on the day after the vote, during England’s European Championship campaign last summer.
‘I don’t think that any of us know too much about it to comment on it, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,’ Kane replied.
In fairness, to express an opinion is to risk being the class swot where British football is concerned.
But still we heard rich proof that those who play sport can speak with eloquence about the world around them.
‘Men who have their constitutional rights — black, white, or whatever — taking a knee, and you call us “SOB”?’ said Washington cornerback Josh Norman. ‘Am I American? Am I here fighting for the home of the free? Am I really free? I have to look at myself and think sometimes.’