Battle’s just begun for playeractivists
Stanford fifthyear senior Treyjohn Butler won’t be playing football this fall. His grandmother won’t be able to watch him play, as he had hoped.
But that doesn’t mean he thinks the coming months will be an idle time.
“This is just the start of something bigger,” Butler said.
Butler is one of the players involved in #WeAreUnited — a group of hundreds of Pac12 football players who made national headlines by posting a list of demands addressing a wide range of issues, from coronavirus protocols and medical expenses to racial injustice.
Though he’s disappointed by the postponement of his final Pac12 season, Butler expects the players’ movement, rather than stagnating without football, to grow with the extra time available.
“We have the time to work on the issues in the country,”
Butler said. “We can work on making sure we are all registered to vote. To work on getting the confidence to speak on matters and understanding how impactful our young voices can be. Sometimes we forget that our voices truly matter.”
Collegiate athletes are, increasingly, understanding that their voices do have power. That was the goal of a conference call with Pac12 Commissioner Larry Scott and other administrators earlier this month. Butler was one of 13 athletes that participated in a call that he said went badly offtrack.
The players originally were requesting firm guidelines on how to play football safely during a pandemic and requesting uniform protocols, testing and assurances, particularly as some players felt their scholarships were at risk if they opted out.
Instead, Scott turned the discussion toward other issues and, in Butler’s words, the conversation “went into a downward spiral … we had to work to get it back on track.” At one point, Scott called the players’ posted demands a “misguided PR stunt.” The players described his manner as hostile. Butler said that toward the end of the call Scott apologized.
The interaction was an eyeopener for the athletes.
“We were hopeful that we would move toward a new plan for playing,” Butler said. “So the outcome is frustrating.
“But we gave it our best effort and this was just the start of something a lot bigger.
Of players having a platform to speak to administration about issues.”
Butler, who already earned his undergraduate degree in political science, is working on a master’s in media studies. He knows changes in the college football system aren’t likely to benefit him.
“But I want to work for a better future for the players that are coming up,” he said.
Butler sees this moment as one when many issues are intersecting. He views the enormous response to the tweet from Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence — who posted #WeWantToPlay on Twitter — as a perfect example of why athletes seek control over their own name, image and likeness. Butler sees, in the concerns about university liability over coronavirus, a juncture with other medical issues such as concussions.
And he sees the irony of politicians and other rushing to praise the “WeWantToPlay” movement for their own purposes.
“Where was that same quickness when players are asking for racial justice?” he wondered. “It’s a slap in the face to a Black student athlete. You can’t speak only to the football side of issues and not the other side.”
Butler said conversations among players at schools across the country are happening on a regular basis. Rather than a lost season, the pandemic autumn may bring about serious change.
“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” Butler said. “The gas pedal is not letting up.”