The Mail on Sunday

Millwall fans boo own team for taking knee

Millwall players turn on club’s own fans who booed them for taking the knee

- By Holly Bancroft

THE BBC’s Gary Lineker last night led condemnati­on of Millwall supporters for booing their own players as they took the knee at a football match yesterday in support of the fight against racism.

As part of the relaxing of Covid restrictio­ns, spectators have been allowed back into football stadiums in tier 2 and tier 1 areas for the first time since March.

About 2,000 Millwall fans – who have a reputation for being confrontat­ional – were let into the club’s stadium, The Den, in SouthEast London, for their Championsh­ip game against Wayne Rooney’s Derby County. But jeers rang out before kick- off as the players took a knee – a custom that teams have adopted since June in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in America.

Match Of The Day host Lineker took to Twitter with a wry remark, saying: ‘Let’s be fair, it only appears to be a small minority of Millwall fans that didn’t boo the players taking the knee.’

But former England striker Dion Dublin was more direct, saying: ‘To me, they are racist. They don’t agree with taking the knee, which means they’re racist.’

Ex- England defender Micah Richards demanded ‘punishment’ for the culprits, adding: ‘ They know exactly who it is – they need to be punished.’

And Inbetweene­rs actor Blake Harrison said: ‘ Sad and embarrasse­d to be a Millwall fan today.’

After the game, which Millwall lost 1-0, former England captain Rooney said: ‘Everyone at Derby County has been in full support of taking the knee, so it was quite surprising and I’m sure for our players, it could have been difficult to hear that.’ Millwall’s manager Gary

Rowett said he was ‘disappoint­ed’ that the return of fans had been overshadow­ed. ‘ We should be talking about the fact we are all back and we want to enjoy the football match again,’ he said. He added that the club supported antidiscri­mination initiative­s.

The Football Associatio­n issued a statement, saying it ‘supports all players and staff that wish to take a stand against discrimina­tion in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities’.

MILLWALL fans were branded ‘racist’ after hundreds of them marked their return to The Den by booing their own players taking a knee before kick-off against Wayne Rooney’s Derby.

Furious jeers and shouts of ‘Get up’ echoed around the ground when players dropped to the pitch to show their support for Black Lives Matter.

The FA and the charity Kick It Out immediatel­y condemned the incident, while the former England internatio­nal Micah Richards demanded ‘ real punishment’.

And Millwall’s black defender Mahlon Romeo lashed out at the club’s fans, saying their hostile reaction to taking the knee had rendered the game ‘irrelevant’.

Teams have been showing their support for the anti-racist Black Lives Matter movement since competitiv­e football restarted in June. But yesterday was the first time fans had witnessed the protest at first hand as thousands returned to football grounds for the first time since March.

There was a furious response to the action of Millwall’s fans, with TV pundit Richards saying: ‘It’s just dishearten­ing.’

And speaking on BBC’s Final Score, the former Manchester City star demanded that Millwall take action. ‘There are 2,000 and you can actually pinpoint these people who are going now so they’ve got no excuses,’ he said. ‘I’m sick to death of talking about this situation to be honest, how someone can get in the ground and boo the Black Lives Matter, which to me is racist. Let’s see some real punishment.

‘I don’t want to see Millwall slapped with a 10- grand fine. They know exactly who it is, they need to be punished.’

This was the first game with fans at The Den since February 29, with 2,000 allowed in to watch the Championsh­ip match which Derby won 1-0.

Another former star, the ex-Coventry and Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin, said: ‘ To me they are racist, they’re racist people, they don’t agree with taking the knee, which means they’re racist. They don’t agree with

Black Lives Matter. That means they’re racist to me.’

Millwall had clearly feared that there might be a backlash from their own fans, having warned in the build-up to the game that their players would continue to take the knee even though several clubs have already abandoned the pre-match protest.

Gary Rowett, Millwall’s manager, believes taking the knee is in danger of becoming an ‘empty’ gesture, saying: ‘The players have released a statement together and said they don’t support it [taking the knee] as a political message but support anti-discrimina­tion.

‘Moving forward, like a lot of clubs, they would prefer not to take the knee and actually enact change.

‘They want to be proactive rather than it being a gesture which a lot of clubs are now saying is perhaps empty.

‘That’s not my considerat­ion, but they now feel that gesture is in danger of being empty.’

This isn’t the first time Millwall’s fans have been accused of racism. Last year they were fined £10,000 and told to ‘implement an action plan’ after racist chants were heard during an FA Cup tie against Everton.

Millwall defender Romeo was clearly hurt by the booing. He tweeted: ‘Today’s game has become irrelevant to me now. The fans have been let back in — which the whole team was looking forward to. But in society there is a problem — and that problem is racism.’

Sanjay Bhandari, chair of Kick It Out, said: ‘We are saddened by the behaviour of fans booing the players taking the knee at Millwall.

‘What this demonstrat­es is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimina­tion, whether that is through taking the knee or speaking out.

‘We applaud the players of Millwall and Derby for taking a stand and defying the hate shown by some fans.’

The English Football League said in a statement: ‘We are disappoint­ed that a small group of supporters have today chosen to voice their opposition to activities directly aimed at raising awareness of the fight against racism.

‘We remain committed to working with our clubs, including Millwall who undertake a significan­t amount of work on equality and inclusion initiative­s, as we continue with our collective objective to eradicate all types of prejudiced behaviour.’

The FA said: ‘The FA supports all players and staff that wish to take a stand against discrimina­tion in a respectful manner, which includes taking the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviour of any spectators who actively voice their opposition to such activities.’

 ??  ?? DEFIANT: Derby footballer Colin Kazim-Richards gestures as fans jeer
DEFIANT: Derby footballer Colin Kazim-Richards gestures as fans jeer
 ??  ?? SIGNAL: Kazim-Richards of Derby raises his arm as Millwall players take the knee before the match
SIGNAL: Kazim-Richards of Derby raises his arm as Millwall players take the knee before the match

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom