It’s not just football – it’s a barometer of diversity. Bring on the Euros…

Last week, after more than a year of playing in empty stadiums, the England men’s football team finally walked out into the Riverside stadium in Middlesbrough in front of a small, socially distanced crowd. This warm-up game for Euro 2020 was hardly notable for the football as England ground out a 1-0 win over Austria. What stays in the mind is that, when the English players – a remarkably diverse starting 11, five of whom were players of colour – took the knee before kick-off, there was the now familiar duel between those booing the gesture, and those clapping to drown them out.

In May 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd and the global mobilisation of the Black Lives Matter movement, players of the English Premier League collectively agreed to take a knee before games and have, with a few exceptions, continued to do so since. It has been by Burnley fans, to social media abuse of black players and booing the knee by Chelsea fans at the FA Cup final.