Tottenham won’t take the knee earlier than Sunday’s Ladies’s Tremendous League match as a result of the anti-racism gesture “now not feels significant”.
The membership’s determination comes after Spurs and England ahead Jessica Naz acquired racial abuse on social media final month.
“As gamers, we now have chosen to not take the knee earlier than kick-off this afternoon. As a substitute, we are going to rise up towards racism,” Tottenham captain Bethany England stated earlier than their WSL recreation towards Brighton.
“I’ve spoken to my team-mates at size, and we agree that taking the knee now not feels significant. We’re nonetheless seeing prejudice and racism, and there’s a lot extra that everybody needs to be doing.”
With October marking Black Historical past Month within the UK, the WSL has invited golf equipment “to take the knee as an emblem of solidarity towards racism and discrimination”.
Nevertheless, earlier than Manchester United’s 1-1 draw towards Chelsea on Friday and Manchester Metropolis’s 3-2 win over Arsenal on Saturday, gamers didn’t take the knee.
As a substitute, each groups got here collectively within the centre circle and linked arms.
The WSL stated: “We acknowledge that not all gamers could select to take the knee over these video games, which follows the method the Lionesses took in the summertime.
“We now have all the time been participant led and we help every particular person selection in how they mark the event in a approach that feels proper for them.”
England stopped taking the knee at Euro 2025 after defender Jess Carter revealed she had been focused with racist abuse on social media all through the event.
The Lionesses stood earlier than kick-off relatively than taking the knee, with the substitutes standing arm-in-arm on the touchline in a present of solidarity with Carter.
Talking about Spurs’ determination to not take the knee, Tottenham striker England stated: “This isn’t a tick field – that is folks’s lives, folks’s emotions. It wants to vary.
“We are going to put on T-shirts in the course of the warm-up which carry our message. That is our approach of constructing a stand that this is not acceptable, we stand with those that are nonetheless being subjected to such horrific abuse.
“We stand collectively towards racism.”
Naz stated she was “finished being quiet” after she was the goal of racial abuse following Tottenham’s penalty shootout victory over Aston Villa within the Ladies’s League Cup on 24 September.
Spurs head coach Martin Ho stated he had a “lot of empathy” for the 25-year-old and that she is being supported by the membership.
“Jess is sweet. She is similar character – a vivid character with a smile on her face, having fun with what she does. She’s obtained group of gamers and workers round her and an exquisite membership that provides her that help,” he stated on Friday.
“We now have to verify we hold pushing as a collective to place issues proper.”
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