Teams cannot stop fighting racism, says coach - EZFICE

Teams cannot stop fighting racism, says coach

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Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira said Premier League teams must not stop taking the knee against racism following the captain's decision to limit pre-match gestures to some key games of the new season.

The reason why Premier League clubs adopted the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, USA, in May 2020.

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The teams even used the sport's logo on their shirts, which were replaced with the phrase “no room for racism”.

But the question of whether players should continue kneeling before games is divided, with some analysts saying the gesture, proposed by NFL player Colin Kaepernick in 2016, risks being ignored.

Players will only kneel in the opening game of the new season, special “no room for racism” rounds in October and March, during the Christmas holidays after the World Cup and in the final round of the World Cup. League and FA Cup and League Cup finals.

“We cannot stop immediately because we need to make a statement,” Vieira told reporters ahead of his team's opening game at home to Arsenal on Friday. “It is important to continue this gesture because we are all against discrimination. We will continue to do so only in some cases. It will be a long fight, so we still need to kneel.”

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