Germany won’t punish players for Floyd protests
FRANKFURT (AP):
THE GERMAN football federation will not punish players who protest against the killing of George Floyd and racism.
Several players in Germany have made statements with gestures or messages on their clothing since Floyd died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee for several minutes on his neck.
The federation, known as the DFB, said yesterday it opposed punishing any players because it believes their anti-racism messages match the federation’s own principles.
“The DFB has made a strong stand against any form of racism, discrimination or violence and stands for tolerance, openness and diversity, values which are also anchored in the DFB’s statutes,” federation president Fritz Keller said in a statement. “Therefore, the players’ actions have our respect and our understanding.”
The statement named four players who protested during last weekend’s games – Achraf Hakimi, Jadon Sancho, Weston McKennie and Marcus Thuram – but made clear the same approach would apply to any future protests.
The federation has not revoked a yellow card given to Sancho.
The federation said Monday that the Borussia Dortmund forward’s booking was for the act of removing his shirt, rather than for the ‘Justice for George Floyd’ message written on his undershirt during Sunday’s 5-0 win over Paderborn.
DESERVE APPLAUSE
Other players protested by kneeling, like Thuram, or by showing messages on an armband, like McKennie, or on boots, like Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams. Only Sancho received a booking.
Germany’s approach has the backing of FIFA. The governing body of world football said Tuesday that such demonstrations “deserve an applause and not a punishment”.
UEFA, the governing body of European football, is also set to allow messages related to Floyd and anti-racism when the Champions League resumes.
Players are normally prohibited from espousing their views during a match. The laws of the game state that “any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images”on equipment is forbidden.
WITH THE Carifta Games officially postponed until 2021 and no international junior competitions on the swimming calendar for the remainder of the year, Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) president, Martin Lyn, said the association will focus on local competitions this year.
Lyn anticipates they will not have any form of activity in local pools until July or August, but he is optimistic that by late September they should be able to resume competitions.
“We got the unfortunate news that Carifta (Games) in Barbados was definitely cancelled for 2020 and has been moved to 2021, where Barbados will still host the Games. So we didn’t have anything (international) to train towards this year. That was the last regional event that we were looking forward to after the World Championship cancellation and several other meets being cancelled,” said Lyn.
NO ONE TRAINING
“So for the rest of the year, no team will be sent away to represent Jamaica for aquatics, and what it means is that we will concentrate more on club meets locally. I am not sure about the Montego Bay meet (the next event on the local calendar in July), as there is nobody training, so it is going to be very difficult to host that meet because aquatics is not something you can start this week and by next week you are ready again. They (swimmers) have been out of the water for so long, it would be hard for them to jump back in and be ready immediately,” Lyn reasoned.
He, however, added that most coaches have indicated that they will need at least four weeks to get their athletes back up to a reasonable condition, and he believes that once the association is granted permission to reopen the National Aquatic Centre pools, that will lead to competitions.
“I have talked to coaches and most have given a time frame of four to six weeks to get back up to some fitness. They are going to need a minimum of four weeks, and if we are back in the pool by the middle of July, the earliest (date for competition) anybody can possibly think of is September,” said Lyn.
“When we get the pool reopened you will have athletes and parents that will still be hesitant. But if the pool is open, at least we can start moving towards 2021,” he added. “We will get it (pool) back but this (pool closure) is a huge spoke in our wheel. The only thing is that everybody has been affected, so we are all starting from scratch, but we intend to rebuild our programmes and continue on some of the positive programmes we have already established.”