NFL teams take a stand
It was the National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee Bucks that was the first team to refuse to leave their locker rooms ahead of an important playoff game against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks were taking a stand against the shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police in Kenosha, Wisconsin – about an hour away from where the Bucks play.
Milwaukee were fully prepared to forfeit the game but found support from the rest of their colleagues around the league, as other players refused to take the court on Wednesday and Thursday. The stand forced the NBA to postpone a total of six playoff games, including the Bucks against the Magic. Other leagues quickly followed suit with Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the Women’s National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League all postponing games as well.
The National Football League season isn’t scheduled to begin until September, but with teams in preseason training camps the players decided they could still stand in solidarity with their fellow athletes.
On Thursday, various teams across the NFL opted not to hold practice. The Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans, Washington Football Team and Los Angeles Chargers were among teams that left their practice fields empty.
“In the wake of what has taken place in our backyard of Kenosha over the last couple of days, we as a team have a lot on our mind today,” the Bears said in a statement, via ESPN. “We decided to pause our football activities to voice to each other, our coaches and our staff where we stand on the real issues around race and police brutality in our country.”
It continued: ”We all agreed that talks and discussions are simply not enough anymore, and we need action. We are putting in plans to take action in our communities and together we believe we can make a real difference. We need action not only today, but in the days to come.”
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur commented on the situation Thursday, saying it was a decision made by players and staff alike and that they were all unified in the decision. Green Bay is the closest NFL team to Kenosha.
“Not one guy said that they didn’t want to practice today; that didn’t even come up,” LaFleur said, via ESPN. “It was more or less we were having some really long conversations. When you feel that emotion in the room, it’s hard to focus on football. It is emotionally draining for everybody in that room, so I made the decision that, hey, we’re not going to go today. I just didn’t think it was right. We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow when we reconvene.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of guys in our locker room that are upset about a lot of different things that they see in the world and that they’ve experienced,” LaFleur added. “… I don’t know what our players have gone through. I’m a white guy that hasn’t been put in certain situations, but I continue to try to listen and I’m going to do whatever I can in my power to help support equal rights.”
The 2020 NFL season is expected to start on September 10th with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Houston Texans. As of now, no regular season games are expected to be postponed as a result of protests.
