Great post. This thread's a monster and I may even have commented on it somewhere. The key point it seems to me is that football is a highly diverse sport and seen to be. As such, even though your black teammates are likewise worshipped from the terraces, it must be painfully apparent to footballers that their friends (and people who look like their friends) are still victims of racism both institutional and unconscious every day of their lives. They are in a position to make a gesture pointing this out that will be seen by the people who look up to them - especially young people - and they feel like making it because they believe they can influence those people to think about the ongoing racism that surrounds them. That's why it is a real shame the Boro players have been effectively scared off making it because the culture warriors got the upper hand for a while on Teesside, shaming Boro fans most notably in the England warm-up games before the Euros. Don't p*ss off our racist fans - who are we. Millwall?
To quote Kevin Keegan, I would absolutely love it if Boro players started taking the knee again, all of them, en masse, and faced down the boo boys.
