Fans booing 'prima donna' footballers taking the knee are 'not racist', says Dudley MP
A Black Country Tory MP has backed fans who booed when players took the knee during last week's England game.
Marco Longhi hit back at claims that jeering the gesture was racist and said fans simply wanted to watch football "without having the agenda of a Marxist supporting organisation rammed down their throats by overpaid prima donnas".
He called for an end to the "woke agenda" that was ruining sport and said there was "no value or merit" in ‘taking the knee'.
Loud boos rang round Middlesbrough's Riverside stadium when England players including Wolves' Conor Coady and Aston Villa's Jack Grealish and Tyrone Mings took the knee ahead of Wednesday's pre-Euro 2020 friendly against Austria.
The booing – which was drowned out by clapping and cheering – was condemned in some quarters, with England boss Gareth Southgate saying supporters may have confused the anti-racism message with a "political stand that they don't agree with".
Labour's former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, meanwhile, said the "sickening" booing was "racism and should be called out".
Dudley North MP Mr Longhi, said fans that booed were "not racist".
He added: "Labour are so out of touch.
"Fans just want to watch football without having the agenda of a Marxist supporting organisation rammed down their throats by overpaid prima donnas competing for who can virtue signal the most.
"This woke agenda is divisive and it needs to stop. Sport is about bringing people together – not promoting political agendas.
"Racism is abhorrent and should be called out but there is no value or merit in ‘taking the knee’."
Supporters of taking the knee say the gesture is often wrongly linked with the Black Lives Matter political organisation, which describes itself as being anti-capitalist and "committed to dismantling class as well as gender and racial domination".
Speaking after Wednesday's match, Southgate said of the booing: "It's not something on behalf of our black players that I wanted to hear because it feels as though it is a criticism of them.
"I think we have got a situation where some people seem to think it is a political stand that they don't agree with.
"That's not the reason the players are doing it. We are supporting each other."
Footballers in the UK started taking the knee in a show of solidarity against racism after the murder of George Floyd in May last year.
Some players, including Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha, have since stopped doing it, arguing that the gesture was degrading and was not bringing about change. QPR and Brentford players also stopped taking the knee, saying the message had been "lost".
The gesture has been booed at a number of grounds since fans returned to matches a few weeks ago.
