Taking The Knee Scotland: Why are the national side not taking knee at Hampden Park during Euro 2020?

The Scotland football team are standing firm in their decision not to ‘take the knee’ before matches at Hampden Park during Euro 2020 – but the squad will “kneel against ignorance” ahead of their clash with England at Wembley Stadium.

At the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign in March, the national team switched to standing after head coach Steve Clarke claimed the knee gesture had become “maybe a little bit diluted”.

The Scottish FA recently said that the squad will continue to promote an anti-racist message by standing before matches at Euro 2020, but on Friday (June 11) it was announced the team will now kneel “in solidarity with our counterparts in England” when the two nations go head-to-head on Friday, 18 June.

What does ‘take the knee’ mean?

People across the world have been encouraged to ‘take the knee’ as part of a Stand Up to Racism campaign since the death of George Floyd, who was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.

Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd's neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

The campaign encourages people to kneel in silence in memory of Floyd and to show solidarity with those who are protesting against racism in the US.

The Scotland players won't be 'taking the knee' during Euro 2020.

Footballers, as well as other sportsmen, ‘take the knee’ to reinforce the message that racism will not be tolerated in the sport.

Who is Colin Kaepernick?

The 'take the knee' campaign was inspired by the kneeling protest staged by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016.

The anti-racist statement has since become synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement.

At the time, Kaepernick said: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.”

Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he first started taking a knee during the national anthem.

It led to Kaepernick being exiled from the NFL.

In 2019, Kaepernick reached an undisclosed settlement with the NFL after filing a collusion grievance that accused the league of blackballing him.

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