The Scotland manager Steve Clarke and captain Andy Robertson have now come out and said that Scotland will take the knee in their match Vs England in Euro 2020.
However, they will not repeat this gesture in the other Euro 2020 matches.
This is what Robertson had to say, “Our position was – and remains – that the focus must be on meaningful change to fight discrimination in football and wider society.
“In Scotland, the football family has stood against racism all season. It was our collective view that the national team would do the same.
“Our stance is that everyone, players, fans, teams, clubs, federations, governing bodies and governments must do more. Meaningful action is needed if meaningful change is to occur.
“But it is also clear, given the events around the England national team, taking the knee in this tournament matters as a symbol of solidarity.
“For this reason, we have collectively decided to again take the knee as a team for the fixture against England at Wembley Stadium.
“The Scotland team stands against racism but we will kneel against ignorance and in solidarity on June 18th.”
This is a reversal of their stance as earlier Scotland had decided on standing in their bid to counter racism instead of taking the knee. That was met with a lot of criticism but there was some context that non-Scottish fans would have missed.
One of the main reason why Scotland decided to do away with ‘taking the knee’ campaign was what happened to Glen Kamara and how he was racially abused by Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela. Others may not have the context, but Scottish football fans do. Even in the latest Old Firm game, all the players stood up to support the fight against racism.
Kudela was suspended for 10 games by UEFA which saw him missing out on this year’s European championship.
