THE sporting progressives who have been enjoying the spectacle of footballers ‘taking the knee’ in support of the Marxist organisation Black Lives Matter (most of them probably having no idea that far from being a well-intentioned anti-racist campaign it wants to see the end of the nuclear family and bring down the western economy) had a reality check on Saturday when supporters were allowed into stadiums for the first time this season. Millwall fans booed their own team and opponents Derby as they knelt on the pitch.
Cue predictable outrage from Gary Lineker et al. The crisps salesman said on Twitter: ‘Let’s be fair, it only appears to be a small minority of Millwall fans that didn’t boo the players taking the knee.’ The point being that Millwall fans have a bad reputation (slogan: ‘No one likes us, we don’t care’) and that such behaviour was to be expected.
But was that all there was to it? The Daily Express reported that West Ham fans booed during the taking the knee ceremony before their team’s match against Manchester United. A Google search for ‘West Ham boo’ reveals a picture and a summary of a report by Mikael McKenzie timed at 17.51, updated at 18.35. Click on the link to read more and you get an error notice. The report has been taken down. West Ham player Declan Rice claimed he heard nothing.
However doing the rounds is a YouTube video by a John Bridges in which he insists (a) that West Ham fans did boo; (b) that this has been covered up by the clubs and the media because while Millwall are convenient scapegoats, West Ham are in the Premier League and the booing is an embarrassment for the club’s executives; (c) that there are existing well-supported campaigns against racism in sport such as Kick It Out; (d) that BLM are ‘race-baiting Marxist scum which anyone with half a brain cell knows has a divisive message that is designed to divide people, not fight racism’ and (e) fans are booing to show their disgust at being force-fed this message.
It’s worth a watch if you are OK with forceful and obscene language, not least because at the end there is a clip of the magnificent Ann Widdecombe giving Brussels both barrels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So0Eqit74U4
PS: The delicious irony was that because the football fans were all ‘strongly encouraged’ to wear masks (mandatory in the Premier League) it was not possible to tell who was responsible for the booing. Will football fans soon be exempted from wearing masks so that the authorities can keep an eye on them?
