BIRMINGHAM: West Indies great Michael Holding has praised the decision of England’s footballers to continue taking a knee, saying they are doing more than their cricket counterparts to combat racism.
The former paceman last year called for meaningful change to tackle injustice, saying he had encountered abuse as a young player in England and Australia.
Holding eturned to the theme on Friday during the second day’s play in the second Test at Edgbaston.
“The footballers, [manager] Gareth Southgate and the England team, I applaud them for what they’re doing,” he said. “They are getting a lot of stick for taking the knee [in Euro 2020 warm-up games], they’re getting booed, but they are showing some backbone.
“They’re saying ‘we’re doing it because we know what we’re doing — not for a political movement, we’re doing it for humanitarian reasons’.”
England and New Zealand shared a ‘moment of unity’ before Thursday’s opening day of the second Test, but the 67-year-old Holding was unimpressed.
“I’m not going to talk about political movements,” he said. “I care about the three words — Black Lives Matter. What this England [cricket] team is doing, this ‘moment of unity’, is not supporting Black Lives Matter. Don’t tell me that’s supporting Black Lives Matter.”
Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2021
