By Adegboyega Adeleye
Manchester City defender Marc Guehi believes taking the knee before football matches may have lost some of its impact saying more can be done to tackle racism.
According to the Associated Press, Guehi, who is Black, did not take the knee before City’s Premier League match against Ipswich on Saturday, the first of two rounds of games dedicated to the league’s “No Room For Racism” campaign. It isn’t the first time Guehi refused to perform the gesture.
The gesture was introduced in June 2020 in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Premier League stopped asking players to take the knee before every match from the 2022-23 season, instead inviting them to do so on selected occasions.
Speaking on Monday, ahead of City’s Champions League match against AEK Athens, Guehi welcomed the continuation of the anti-racism campaign and called for further action.
“It’s great,” he said. “Whether more can be done — more can always be done. We have to see how we can move the campaign along.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a football issue. I think it’s a wider societal issue and football is that beacon of hope to try to get the message out. But whether more can be done, we will try, hopefully with the PFA (English soccer’s players union), with the league.”
Asked whether taking the knee had lost its meaning, Guehi replied: “Maybe. I haven’t been taking the knee for a while now, to be honest. I’d always clap, just because of what that actually signifies.”
He did not elaborate on his reasons for no longer taking the knee.
Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin also remained standing during the weekend’s anti-racism gesture, while his teammates and Manchester United players knelt. Calvert-Lewin scored in the 1-1 draw.
Leeds manager Daniel Farke said: “Dom is more or less like, ‘No, I don’t go down. I show my respect by standing up, more or less.’
“I think each individual is different and shows respect for this campaign in a different way.”
Former Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha, who is Black, said in 2021 that he would no longer take the knee, describing the gesture as “degrading”.
“I feel like taking a knee is degrading,” Zaha was quoted by The Guardian as telling the FT Business of Football conference. “Growing up, my parents just let me know that I should just be proud to be black, no matter what, and I just think we should stand tall.
“I think the meaning behind the whole thing is becoming something that we just do now. That’s not enough.”
The Premier League’s “No Room For Racism” initiative takes place during the UK’s Black History Month. League chief executive Richard Masters said it aims to use “the reach of our players to send an important message: we are united in the fight against racism.”
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