London Skolars coach Jermaine Coleman has been left frustrated in recent weeks as it has become clear that some supporters still do not fully understand why players make their 13-second stand for equality before kick-off.
Across the game players continue to take the knee or show their support for the cause in other ways, but for Coleman the message still isn’t getting the necessary support from some sections of supporters.
“When we played Hunslet a couple of weeks ago, there were some Hunslet fans booing their own team for taking the knee,” said Coleman.
“Unfortunately there seemed to be a bit of naiveté and uneducated understanding there as they cheered us for not doing it, without realising we were showing our support for the cause is a different way.
“We now do something where we all stand a bit like Jesse Owens did in the Olympics when Hitler was in power. We all stand and face one direction, with the person at the front putting their fist up, while everyone else puts hand on right shoulder.
“We purposefully don’t take the knee any more because we don’t feel that’s really changing anything. But we are still supporting the cause and showing that we want equality across the board.
“I know the booing happened again at Hunslet last week and some of the players were quite upset about it and raised the issue with staff and wanted those supporters taken out of the crowd.
“Booing any players for kneeling for equality simply isn’t acceptable, and clearly more still needs to be done to educate some people on what we’re trying to achieve.
“For a sport that claims to be so diverse, how is this sort of thing still happening?”
The above content is also available in the regular weekly edition of League Express, on newsstands every Monday in the UK and as a digital download. Click here for more details.
