September 21, (THEWILL) – Marcos Alonso, Chelsea’s Spanish winger, will join a growing number of footballers that have personally decided to stop taking the knee as he now believes that some of the actual significance of the act in the fight against racism has been lost.
“Taking the knee” whereby an individual kneels upon one knee in place of standing to attention for an anthem or other such occasion, became symbolic gesture against racism especially within sports. It originated from American football player Colin Kaepernick on September 1, 2016, who took the knee in protest against the lack of attention given to the issues of racial inequality and police brutality in the United States.
Kaepernick’s protest led to a wider series of national anthem protests. It has since been adopted by sports players in countries across the world, including football players in the United Kingdom, in solidarity with Kaepernick’s protest against racism and the global resistance against racial abuse and discrimination.
So far this season, Alonso has not joined the rest of his teammates in performing the gesture and insists that he will continue. Instead, while others kneel, he has taken to pointing to the “No Room for Racism” patch on his sleeve.
This makes him one of only a handful of Premier League players to stop taking the knee before games. THEWILL recalls that Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha have also taken a decision to not kneel for similar rationale.
In his case, Alonso insisted that his decision is nothing to read much into as he said: “I am fully against racism and I’m against every type of discrimination, and I just prefer to put my finger to the badge where it says no to racism, like they do in some other sports and football in other countries.
“I prefer to do it this way and, of course, to say very clearly that I am against racism and I respect everybody.
“I just prefer to do it this way. It’s my way to do it, I think it’s another way. And maybe I think it’s losing a bit of strength the other way (taking the knee), so I just prefer to do it this way and to show I am fully supportive of fighting against racism.”
As the rest of the Chelsea squad continues to take the knee, Alonso admitted that he has not felt the need to discuss his decision with his team-mates. THEWILL recalls that some Chelsea players have been targeted by racist abuse recently, such as Reece James, Antonio Rudiger and even the just returned Romelu Lukaku.
Alonso said: “No, we haven’t talked about it. We are in the changing room and we are like a family. I have a very good relationship with everyone, I love everyone and up to now we haven’t talked about it.
“I don’t think there is a need to, but, of course, if I have to speak to anyone, I will say the same thing I just told you and I don’t think there will be any problems. For now I prefer to point to the sleeve and that’s what I will do [for the remainder of the season].”
The winger has been in excellent form for Chelsea this season, making seven appearances in all competitions and running riot in the recent 3-0 win over Tottenham, during which he was audibly booed by the Spurs fans. But, he took it all amicably, saying:
“I love it! To be booed when you play away, it’s music to my ears. It might be because I have scored a few goals against them and I think they maybe have these memories in their head when I touch the ball, so yeah I love it and even more when we get the three points.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
