Back on the pitch and making a statement
All starters in 1st match of Challenge Cup take a knee during the national anthem
The National Women’s Soccer League on Saturday became the first American team sport to resume play since the coronavirus outbreak rocked the nation in March. And players in the first games of the Challenge Cup tournament made quite an opening statement.
In the opener, all starters on the North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns rosters knelt during the national anthem, reflecting a leaguewide push to fight racism. Every player on the Thorns bench chose to kneel as well, while keeper Katelyn Rowland was the only Courage player who chose to stand.
Both teams wore matching Black Lives Matter shirts over their jerseys during warmups and the anthem, with the Thorns also wearing black armbands during the match at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah.
Then in the tournament’s second game late Saturday, players on the Chicago Red Stars and Washington Spirit also knelt, with Red Stars players Julie Ertz and Casey Short sharing an emotional moment — Short cried on Ertz’s shoulder while the two embraced, with Ertz appearing emotional as well.
The Red Stars, who lost to the Courage in last year’s NWSL championship match, faced the Spirit in the second of a 23-game tournament pitting eight of the league’s
teams against each other. The NWSL’s ninth team, the Orlando Pride, pulled out of the tournament last week after six players and four staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. The Courage and Thorns players released a joint statement that was read during the CBS broadcast explaining their decision to kneel during the anthem.
“We took a knee today to protest racial injustice, police brutality and systemic racism against Black people and people of color in America,” the statement read. “We love our country and we have taken this opportunity to hold it to a higher standard. It is our duty to demand that the liberties and freedoms this nation was founded upon are extended to everyone.”
The teams delivered an entertaining debut match. The Courage, who have won back-to-back NWSL championships, earned a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Debinha and Lynn Williams. U.S. sports leagues have pledged to make social justice reform part of the conversation as they restart play during the pandemic. Players, coaches and officials took a knee again during a moment of silence before kickoff.
The NWSL has grappled with controversy when players attempted to kneel during the national anthem in the past. When OL Reign and U.S. women’s national team superstar Megan Rapinoe knelt in solidarity with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016, Spirit owner Bill Lynch chose to break up the protest by playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” while players were in the locker room.
U.S. Soccer reprimanded Rapinoe for kneeling during a national team match. She was held off of the national team roster until the federation approved a new rule banning all U.S. players from kneeling during the anthem. Unions representing the men’s and women’s teams later said the rule never applied to them because it had not been ratified by their bargaining units, but it added to the tension between women’s national team players and the federation.
The anthem rule was repealed following widespread protests against racism and police brutality sparked by the killing of George Floyd on May 25.