‘It’s like clapping for the NHS’: Lionesses’ decision to stop taking the knee triggers debate

It has been the most visible symbol of antiracism in sport since the athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists at the 1968 Olympics.

Taking the knee was adopted by UK football teams in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, having been popularised by Colin Kaepernick and his teammate Eric Reid during a 2016 American football game.

But amid debate about its effectiveness in 2025, critics of the gesture may have got their wish. After the defender Jess Carter revealed racist social media abuse, England’s Lionesses said they would not take the knee before their Italy fixture, saying football needed “to find another way to tackle racism”, as colleagues and matchgoing fans rallied around her.

It is understood the Premier League is planning to talk to club captains about whether to continue with the gesture next season.

Piara Powar, the executive director of the anti-discrimination organisation Fare, has insisted that taking the knee remains a “powerful antiracist act”. But in a Times radio interview this week, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the time for taking the knee had “probably passed”.

View image in fullscreen Ros Griffiths said taking the knee was ‘just symbolic’ and had been stripped of value. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

In Lambeth, south London, a historic centre of Black British life, the community organiser Ros Griffiths argues the symbol has been stripped of value, because of the persistence of racial inequality and the lack of “an inclusive national conversation” on British identity in a diverse country.

Griffiths said Black sportspeople in the UK found themselves “part of the in-group when they were winning, and part of the out-group when they’re not”.

She said taking the knee was “a bit like clapping for the NHS, it’s just symbolic. For me, it’s not about taking a knee and putting your fist up in the air. It’s about being committed to dismantling systemic racism.

“In my opinion, things have got worse since George Floyd. Look at the race riots last year. And then I think of Diane Abbott being suspended for nothing else other than having an opinion based on her own lived experience of racism. Is that what we’re doing in 2025, really?

“This country has benefited from diversity but still doesn’t embrace it. What does it mean to be a British citizen? We’ve not had that conversation, and it has to start with the education system, so people understand the values and the benefits and it’s not about the in-group pushing out the out-group, or the out-group trying to push out the in-group. We don’t want any more gestures – we’re tired of that.”

The football anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out’s last incident report found in the 2023-24 season, racism remained the most reported form of discrimination, with an “alarming 47% rise in racist abuse across all levels of the game”, and the number of social media racism reports almost tripling.

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Taking the knee has been questioned by Black sporting figures. In September 2020 the coach and pundit Les Ferdinand said “taking the knee had been powerful … [but] the message has been lost”. Months later, the then-Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha said he was “proud to be black, no matter what” but found the gesture “degrading”. He added: “Unless action is going to happen I don’t want to hear about it.”

View image in fullscreen Wilfried Zaha said the message of taking the knee had been lost, and by spring 2021 that he would not make the ‘degrading’ gesture. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/PA

On the right of politics, Nigel Farage reportedly reacted to the Lionesses’ decision with predictable glee this week, having previously claimed the knee “could not be separated from the Marxist BLM political movement”. In 2021 the Conservative Dominic Raab called it “a symbol of subjugation and subordination”, before saying BLM protesters had his “full respect”.

While the frequency of Premier League teams taking the knee has reduced with time, it was typically met with more applause than boos at fixtures, as a gesture of respect, solidarity, antiracism and progress within a sport that had been marred by ugly racism towards players and fans in the 1970s and 80s. Its supporters included the former England manager Gareth Southgate and the Professional Footballers’ Association.

The FA said it was working with police and social media companies, adding in a statement: “We are very concerned about the rise in online abuse and discrimination.”

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, whose government is developing a social cohesion project, said he stood with players who had suffered racism. The Labour party has said it cannot comment on Diane Abbott’s suspension.

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