MAKE A STAND Rashford joins voices which must be heard COMMENT

..JUST LIKE THESE TORCH BEARERS

JESSE OWENS A silent protest in its purest form. Owens simply beat the opposition to four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and with it, the Nazi propaganda machine that wanted to show off its perfect Aryan athletic programme.

LEBRON JAMES James and several NBA players wore ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts in 2014, referencing the last words of Eric Garner after he died in police custody in New York.

JUST over four years ago, Marcus Rashford announced his entrance into elite football with a couple of goals, blinding pace, electrifying talent … and a shy mumble.

Unsurprisingly, as a bashful teenager, he was not always comfortable with a camera in his face and a microphone beneath his chin. Now, Rashford has one of the most powerful voices in the game, in sport.

This is the young man who, through his charitable work, has helped provide 2.8million free meals a week to vulnerable children during the pandemic.

He has joined other inspiring footballers in speaking out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rashford’s England team-mate Jadon Sancho had sent his own message to the world 24 hours earlier, by revealing a T-shirt that demanded justice for George Floyd.

Over the weekend, Rhian Brewster posted a powerful social media thread, which concluded: “We don’t want special privilege. A level playing field is all we have been crying for, forever. Hear us.”

And the world’s most soughtafter young striker, Kylian

Mbappe of Paris Saint-germain, has been sending powerful twitter messages including a poster plea to law enforcement to “police with us, not against us.”

Rashford echoed Brewster, saying “people are hurting and people need answers.”

The more young high-profile individuals demand answers, the more chance of getting them.

Only the dumbest of folk, normally politicians, stereotype young footballers as rich, out of touch and full of themselves, concerned only with the trappings and spin-offs of their success.

Rashford, Sancho, Brewster, Mbappe – to name but four of an ever-growing band – are typical of a generation with a strong social conscience, with a will to rail against injustices and inhumanity.

These young men WANT to be an example to others. They are a credit to their clubs, families, and to themselves.

And their voices matter.