Aston Villa defender, Tyrone Mings has come out to say that EPL players should not waste the opportunity to take the knee and fight against racism. He, however, revealed that Wilfred’s decision to not take the knee must be respected.
According to him, he absolutely disagrees with those who say the practice has lost its impact, and he feels believing such is a stance will only throw away a great chance to end racism all across the globe.
Mings added that to be honest, he is yet to hear a substantial argument as to why taking the knee needs to stop.
His words, “If we’re completely honest, I haven’t heard one substantial argument as to why we should stop it. I’ve heard it’s lost its power and I think, who have you spoken to, to say that it’s lost its power?”
“There is no right or wrong decision, but I feel kneeling has just become a part of the pre-match routine and whether we kneel or stand, some of us continue to receive abuse.”
“Because I completely understand that us as players and anyone who goes to Premier League matches can think that this is becoming monotonous, or we’ve done it for a long time now, or it’s not as impactful as it was at the start.”
“I completely get that and I had to ask myself the same question, is it still having the desired impact? It was only by speaking to people out in the field and out into society that I really got the feel of the size and importance of what we’re doing.”
On Zaha, “Obviously Zaha has come out as the first player to stop doing it and any person who has a passionate stance on what we’re doing at the moment should be respected.”
“For Zaha to be the first person to come out and be so passionate about not doing it, that he is happy to stand out there on his own as a black man and not take the knee, they are the sort of conversations that we should be encouraging.”
“What are his reasons? If he doesn’t feel it’s having the impact, if he doesn’t feel he’s being respected by doing it, then they are conversations we need to have.”
“The only thing I would say to that is that we have never had this opportunity as a group of black players. Look at players that have come before us. Never would they have had the opportunity for the Premier League to get behind them so strongly and so passionately to back their anti-racism message.”
“I think that is something so powerful and we shouldn’t be getting away from that any time soon.”
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate