Wilfried Zaha Opts To Not Take A Knee, Says It Doesn’t Matter, We Still Receive Abuse
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha did not take the knee with the rest of his teammates and opposition players ahead of Saturday’s match with West Brom.
The forward had previously stated that he would not be taking part in the protest against racism because of its lack of effectiveness.
Premier League players have been taking the knee before kick-off since the restart of last season in a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“There is no right or wrong decision, but for me personally I feel kneeling has just become a part of the pre-match routine and at the moment it doesn’t matter whether we kneel or stand, some of us still continue to receive abuse,” Zaha said after Saturday’s game.
“As a society, I feel we should be encouraging better education in schools, and social media companies should be taking strong action against people who abuse others online – not just footballers.
“I now just want to focus on football and enjoy being back playing on the pitch. I will continue to stand tall.”
Last summer, Zaha revealed that he’d been the subject of racial abuse on social media. Online abuse has been aimed at a number of black footballers in England in recent months.
