Millwall players will continue to take a knee before games despite the events that unfolded on Saturday and the aftermath.
Before the game against Derby, Millwall fans booed when the players took a knee. It was a sad indictment of the fact that racial disrimination is alive as well, as well as the fanbase.
Despite a huge effort over the years by Millwall football club to distance itself from that element of it’s fanbase, it is still a club associated with discrimination and inequality.
Millwall will continue to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement starting tonight against QPR.
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All the more galling is that this was the first time fans were present in The Den after the pandemic. Reports after the incident show that the booing was a planned gesture.
Right back Mahlon Romeo, a black player spoke out saying that the fans who booed were “spreading hatred”.
He said those fans had “personally disrespected not just me but the football club”.
As well as taking a knee, Millwall players will link arms with the QPR players before the game. They will also hold up a sign that reads ‘inequality’, with the ‘in’ crossed out. They hope to continue with this extra gesture before every game this season.
“Millwall believe that this gesture, which the club hopes to repeat with other visiting teams in the coming weeks and months, will help to unify people throughout society in the battle to root out all forms of discrimination,” the club said in a statement.
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“Millwall have a zero-tolerance policy against racial and all other forms of discrimination and want to again make clear to anybody who holds such views that you are not welcome at this football club. Millwall’s stance, as always, is that anybody found guilty of racial abuse is banned for life.”
