‘America’s team’ joins protests
Pro-Trump owner unites with players
American Football’s famed Dallas Cowboys have joined the firestorm over US President Donald Trump’s attacks on NFL players who have knelt as the national anthem played in a protest against police brutality and racial inequality.
The Cowboys’ protest came as they knelt as one before the anthem ahead of their televised National Football League game against the Arizona Cardinals yesterday.
It took on added meaning as the Cowboys are dubbed ‘‘America’s Team’’ and owner Jerry Jones had been the only NFL owner yet to respond to Trump’s criticism of players who did not stand during the anthem. Jones, who had backed the Trump campaign financially, was with his team as they knelt before the anthem.
It was, the club said, in prayer for ‘‘equality and unity’’. Cardinals and Cowboys players stood and locked arms during the anthem.
Numerous boos rang out across University of Phoenix Stadium as the Cowboys kneeled and continued as the players rose, still arm-in-arm, and stepped back to the sideline as the flag was unfurled across the field. They remained connected as the national anthem was sung.
The Cardinals, whose former star Pat Tillman died for his country in 2004, had a gigantic American flag cover the length of the field, carried out and unfurled by fans, military and law enforcement veterans.
None of the Cardinals appeared to take a knee during the pre-game ceremony, on a week when protest swept across the NFL as players registered their outrage at Trump suggesting that players who opted against standing for the anthem should be fired.
Those remarks sparked wide-
spread action on the part of players, teams and some owners and coaches. More than 200 players around the NFL chose to kneel or sit.
Only the Cowboys, Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Cincinatti Bengals and New York Jets had not had a player protest, until the game in Phoenix. The Jets, Bears, Vikings and Bengals did lock arms in solidarity ahead of their games.
‘‘That’s a total disrespect of
everything that we stand for,’’ Trump had said. ‘‘Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired.’’
Trump continued to tweet about the matter over the weekend, noting that ‘‘sports fans should never condone players that do not stand proud for their National Anthem or their Country’’.
The Cowboys won yesterday’s match 28-17.