By challenging the powers that be in their sports the England footballer and the NFL quarter-back have rendered future players a valuable serviceIn the summer of 2016, during pre-season, the NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat alone on a bench during the national anthem before the San Francisco 49ers’ friendly against the Green Bay Packers.His action marked the beginning of a remarkable season of protest in the league, in which he knelt during the anthem for all 16 games, and triggered a movement that has continued into this season. Related: Eniola Aluko: the footballing whistleblower whose hero is Atticus Finch Despite the barrage of abuse and the might of the sporting organisations pitted against them, both have won Related: Colin Kaepernick...
The Steelers, Seahawks and Titans all decided to stay in the locker room and skip the national anthem completely on Sunday. Will other teams follow suit?Whether they knew it or not the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans were following a plan drawn by college basketball’s greatest coach when they refused to come onto the field for the national anthem on Sunday. Nearly 50 years ago, John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, winner of 10 national championships, kept his teams in the locker room during the anthem to support his players’ stands against racial intolerance. Related: Egyptian students told to respect the flag or risk a year in prison Related: Taking the knee: how NFL players protested during...
The NFL is set to haul in $14bn this year. But the league is beset by racially charged protests, a ratings dip and players brain damaged by the contact sportWilliam Walter “Pudge” Heffelfinger was America’s first pro football player: he earned $500 for a single game for Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Athletic Association in 1892. Thirteen years later, he saved the game itself. In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt was under pressure to ban football after several much-publicized player deaths. But Pudge, a friend of the president, is thought to have talked Roosevelt into giving the game a second chance, suggesting the introduction of padding and helmets and outlawing some brutal “pig pile” tactics such as the flying wedge. Given current events in the...
The former 49er is still without a job after his protest - but many teams already have good quarterbacks. Then there are those whose stance makes no sense at allThe Buffalo Bills signed someone called Keith Wenning on Monday. If you know that name, you are either Keith Wenning’s parents – and you should be very proud of your son – or you are Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane, and you should be ashamed of what you’ve done. Wenning, a journeyman quarterback who has now joined his fourth team in the four seasons since he was drafted by Baltimore in the sixth round in 2014, has never actually journeyed far enough to make it on to the field in...
The fact that the talented and outspoken quarterback remains unsigned is the league’s greatest shame right nowA city as polarized as Baltimore, where last year the Department of Justice found a shocking system of racial profiling and abuse by police, could use a player who raises the questions Colin Kaepernick has presented over the last year. Then again, those who buy suites at M&T Bank Stadium aren’t usually the ones experiencing the issues Kaepernick raises.Kaepernick could have been a good fit, too, for the Miami Dolphins, who signed Jay Cutler now that quarterback Ryan Tannehill may be out for the year with a serious knee injury. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has said he hopes Kaepernick’s social activism isn’t keeping him...