MY ACCOUNT
England’s players will discuss whether to take the knee ahead of their World Cup fixtures before Monday’s Group B opener against Iran, says Conor Coady.
The vast majority of Premier League players took the knee in a show of solidarity with those facing racial discrimination at the end of the 2019-20 season and throughout the two following campaigns.
England continued with the gesture at Euro 2020 last year, and were jeered for doing so by Hungary supporters ahead of a Nations League defeat in Budapest this June.
Asked whether the Three Lions would take the knee before their matches in Qatar, Coady said Gareth Southgate’s squad were yet to discuss the issue but would soon do so.
“At the minute, it’s not something we’ve spoken about as a team yet. I think we’ve been concentrating in terms of the game itself coming up,” Coady said on Thursday.
“I’m sure that question will be brought up in the next few days in terms of how we’re going to go about Monday.”
Meanwhile, the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar has attracted widespread criticism due to the country’s criminalisation of same-sex relationships, and Coady described the prospect of LGBTQ+ supporters not feeling comfortable in travelling to the tournament as upsetting.
“Of course it is [upsetting], we want every England supporter to come and support us, they push us and drive us. That’s what we want as a team, we’ll keep on believing in what we believe in,” he said.
“We’ve come to a country where we’ll respect rules and respect what goes on in the country, we’re all here for one thing and that’s to play football.
“But in terms of what we believe in as a team, that’s football for all, and for everyone to be included in our great sport.”
