Former Wakefield MP David Hinchliffe has supported the club’s stance in not taking a knee for Black Lives Matter.
Trinity were scrutinised for their decision to stand while the Wigan team took a knee together.
But Hinchliffe says their own unique stance should be applauded.
He said: “As a supporter of the club for more than sixty years and a life-long anti-racist, I feel Wakefield Trinity were absolutely right to leave it to their players to determine their actions on Sunday and let players like Reece Lyne – from a BAME background – explain their stance.
“The statement issued by Trinity before Sunday’s match made totally clear the club’s strong opposition to racism.
“Rugby League has the finest record of any British sport for inclusivity and, as a consequence, I felt deeply uncomfortable watching what were clearly contrived scenes for the broadcasters ahead of the match on Sunday and the previous ones. Black Lives Matter is a fundamentally important movement which has drawn long-overdue attention to appalling injustices. Its aims should be strongly supported but that support should be genuine, spontaneous, and not what appeared to me almost as tokenism organised for the cameras.
“I appreciate that my support for Wakefield Trinity at this time will result in accusations of racism. Perhaps those doing so might reflect on the fact that my own campaigning for equality in the past, as Wakefield’s MP, led to my being subject to death threats on several occasions and I, my wife and children having, as a consequence, to live with emergency alarms in our Wakefield home linked to the local police station. There are clearly differing views on this matter which, I hope, can be discussed in a reasonable and amicable manner.”
