By stopping players taking the knee, Millwall have handed racists a victory

10-Dec-2020 17:13:12 | The Guardian

Those who booed the race equality protest should not be pandered to, especially since the club have such a history of bigotry

In researching my book about the history of racism in football, a question I asked every player I spoke to was, “where were the most hostile places for a black professional?” In almost all cases, Millwall’s ground was on the list. Spitting, monkey chants and banana throwing were part of the experience of black players 30 or 40 years ago: so, while booing the taking of a knee might to some represent progress, in other ways it seems little has changed.

The actions of those Millwall fans last weekend who jeered their own players as they expressed opposition to racial injustice seemingly represented a massive show of utter contempt and disrespect for the lives, experiences and sentiments of Millwall’s black footballers – and also for those within the club who have worked hard to improve their image since the 1970s and 80s.