On Saturday, as spectators were allowed back into football stadiums in England, a section of the crowd at the Millwall v Derby County match booed players kneeling before kick-off, an expression of opposition to racism both on and off the field. The custom of taking a knee in English football began after Project Restart in June during the resurgence of Black Lives Matter (in the wake of the murder of George Floyd) and was inspired by American athletes kneeling during the national anthem at sports events (most famously the NFL player Colin Kaepernick). Although inspired by Black Lives Matter, the slogan for the English Premier League is actually ‘no room for racism’, while the English Football League (in which Millwall play) have adopted the slogan ‘not today or any day’ for the 2020-21 season.
This is not the first time that Millwall and their supporters make headlines for such reasons, and the club has long been associated with this politics. Even though not the only club to be dealing with such issues (fans at Colchester United also booed on the weekend), this recurrence has made it somewhat the symbol of what is bad within football and has often acted as a diversion away from more systemic issues. This is partly why many prominent figures who usually support systemic oppression condemned the actions of these supporters at The Den. However, it has been telling to witness some come to their defence.
Perhaps the most prominent voice was Cabinet minister George Eustice who declared on Sky News that while there had been ‘problems obviously with racism in football in the past’, ‘[i]f people choose to express their view in a particular way that should always be respected’. In the same interview, Eustice criticised Black Lives Matter for being a ‘political movement that is different to what most of us believe in’. This statement from a prominent mainstream politician and member of cabinet builds on the common post-racial denial of racism, where illiberal articulations of racism are acknowledged, but marginalised and individualised, rather than seen as part and parcel of broader power structures. However, Eustice went further and expressed ideas which were until recently only heard on the far right, such as the creation of false equivalence between racism and anti-racism.
