US women’s national team calls on US soccer to scrap kneeling ban and apologise to black players and fans

Policy was put in place in 2017 after USWNT player Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the national anthem

The US women’s national team (USWNT) has called on the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to apologise to black players and fans and repeal a policy that forbids players from kneeling during the national anthem.

The USSF will meet on Tuesday to discuss the future of the rule, which demands that players “stand respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which the Federation is represented”.

Kneeling has become a symbol used by protestors in the fight against police brutality in the US, with rallies taking place in numerous cities around the country George Floyd’s death in May.

Floyd was an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

“The Federation should immediately repeal the ‘Anthem Policy’, publish a statement acknowledging the policy was wrong when it was adopted, and issue an apology to our black players and supporters,” said a statement issued by the United States Women’s National Team Players Association on Monday.

“Further, we believe the Federation should lay out its plans on how it will now support the message and movement it tried to silence four years ago.”

The USSF told Reuters in an email on Monday that a vote could come following Tuesday’s conference call, or on Friday at the quarterly executive board meeting.

The policy was put in place in 2017 after USWNT player Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the playing of the anthem prior to a match against Thailand a year earlier.

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick popularised the gesture of kneeling during pre-game renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 2016 while he played for the San Francisco 49ers.

The move by the USSF to reconsider its position comes after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that the league had made a mistake by not listening to players. Goodell encouraged them to speak out and protest peacefully.

Additional reporting by Reuters