NFL fans express their anger at the ‘politicization’ of the league as teams kneel for anthem

Fans of the NFL have been expressing their dismay at how the NFL has become ‘politicized’ in the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests. 

Teams opening their seasons in empty stadiums on Sunday knelt, locked arms, raised fists in protest or stayed off the field entirely for the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ and the Black anthem ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ as the once-reluctant league brought racial injustice to the forefront on the NFL’s first full slate of games.

But the gesture has provoked strong feelings among a segment of fans who were already unhappy when players knelt for the national anthem which started when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first took a knee in 2016.

The issue has since been further aggravated after the NFL said they would add ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ before all the opening games of the 2020 season. 

‘I think the NFL is taking a big misstep in making their product not about the game of football and making it about the political agendas of some of its players,’ Green Bay Packers fan Andy Duffrin of Marinette, Wisconsin, said to the Green Bay Press Gazette. ‘The proof is in the pudding and the pudding they are about to serve up is not going to taste very good to a lot of loyal fans.’

In a recent poll by the Washington Post, 56% of Americans said they believed it to be appropriate for athletes to kneel during the national anthem with 42% saying it was inappropriate.    

But on Sunday, NFL fans on Twitter expressed their upset at what they had been witnessing in stadiums across the country. 

‘The NFL is done,’ one fan put simply.

Many were unhappy at the apparent crossover of politics and ‘social justice’ into the game. 

‘End racism is written at an NFL end zone. WTF  is the scenario where a racist sees that, and addresses his issues. That’s just the laziest, performative bulls***,’ stated one fan.

‘NFL is a total s***show with their crossing over into politics and ‘social justice’ nobody wants to see that s***! Roger Goodell and your ratings will soon prove that Exactly to be true, dumb***!’

One Denver Broncos fan posted video of himself setting fire to his Denver Broncos flag.

‘Loved watching my Broncos, but I love my country more. To HELL with the NFL and Players! GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.’

Another user, Clay Travis from Nashville expressed his upset with the Baltimore Ravens.

‘The Ravens stood for the black national anthem. And then most of the team kneeled for the national anthem. That, my friends, is a REALLY bad look,’ he wrote.

‘I wouldn’t know, cuz I’m never watching nfl football again,’ chimed in another in response. 

A female fan from Arizona expressed similar sentiments. 

‘I love my country; I HATE the NFL,’ tweeted Victoria Martel.  

The NFL along with other professional sports leagues are in favor of bringing attention to the treatment of black people by law enforcement after George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25.  

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL should have taken Kaepernick’s and other players’ protests more seriously from the start. 

The NFL has pledged $250 million to support social justice causes in addition to extra money to individual teams. The Packers pledged $500,000 and Murphy $250,000 to Wisconsin-based organizations. Many players also have foundations through which they support local and national causes. 

But Kaepernick’s tweet on Sunday suggested he was still skeptical that anything had changed in the league.

‘While the NFL runs propaganda about how they care about Black Life, they are still actively blackballing Eric Reid for fighting for the Black community. Eric set 2 franchise records last year, and is one of the best defensive players in the league.’

Reid was a former safety for the 49ers and Carolina Panthers.

He was the second player, behind Kaepernick, to participate in kneeling protests during performances of the national anthem before NFL games. 

Wayne Sargent of Campbellsport who runs a Green Bay Packers fan club says he believes the teams should stick to entertainment rather than political messages.

‘Lately, the teams and players have turned professional sports into an arena for social and political outcry,’ Sargent said. ‘Professional sports should not be used as a platform for expression, but for the enjoyment of their fans — those fans that support their teams and players. If this behavior keeps up, I truly believe the only fans in the stands may be made of cardboard.’

Back online, NFL fan Luke Silver did not hold back: ‘NFL is a total s*** show with their crossing over into politics and ‘social justice’ nobody wants to see that s***. Roger Goodell and your ratings will soon prove that Exactly to be true, dumbass!’

Evan Gearing from Georgetown, Texas said that the current display made it hard for him to still support the NFL.

‘Makes it very hard for this lifelong football fan to go back to watching games. And I am someone who had a bucket list to see a game in every stadium. Been to at least 10 stadiums so far. Planned vacations around nfl. Not anymore, since 2017 haven’t watched a game.’  

Ken Zimmern from Texas tweeted his thoughts on the matter together with a pic of the entire Washington team kneeling at the side of the field.

‘NFL Players expressing hatred for their own country. Career suicide. Eventually this will end badly. And their income will be affected. #Disgrace #UnAmerican’. 

One Kansas City Chiefs fan attempted to explain the negative response from fans.

‘Football fans are not booing racial equality and justice. They are booing the far left, abolish the nuclear family and capitalism rhetoric that has been shoved down their throats for the past 5 months. We were already for unity. I’m proud of the KC fans.      

A self-declared Trump supporter tweeted how he believed NFL players were ‘overpaid losers’ using the hashtag BoycottNFL. 

‘Fire them all and let’s see what jobs they find to contribute to society vs. throwing a ball around and making millions for it… meanwhile not doing a DAMN thing besides kneeling during our great National Anthem,’ he wrote. 

‘I tried, against my better judgement, to watch the NFL today. I saw kneeling, fists in the air, players kneel in the middle of the field instead of defending a kickoff, and was subjected to the ‘Black National Anthem’. I’M DONE! #BoycottNFL’ wrote another. 

Out on the fields, Seattle’s Jason Myers kicked the ball through the end zone to open Seattle’s season at Atlanta. No one else on the field moved. Instead, the Seahawks and Falcons dropped to one knee where they had stood.

After years of pleading with their league to act against systemic racism, NFL players were prepared to wait another 10 seconds to make their point.

In Atlanta, the teams wore armbands honoring civil rights leader John Lewis and staged the most striking of the day’s gestures: They watched the opening kickoff sail through the end zone for a touchback, dropped to one knee, and remained there for about 10 seconds before trotting off the field to resume the game.

‘We’re taking this moment and making it a movement, not just as a race, a community or a team, but as a nation,’ Falcons defensive end Steven Means said in a statement issued by the team. ‘It’s time to stand up, rise up and vote.’

Lewis, the Georgia Congressman who died in July, was named an honorary captain for the game. The Falcons also wore shirts with his quote: ‘The Vote is the most powerful, nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society.’

While fans were absent everywhere except Jacksonville because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the family of George Floyd, who died in May in a videotaped killing that sparked national protests over police brutality against black men.

Vikings players locked arms in the end zone about a half-hour before their game against Green Bay for ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ the song unofficially known as the Black national anthem that was played before each game in Week 1 as part of the NFL’s ‘social awakening’.

The Packers remained in their locker room for the two songs, following the lead of the Miami Dolphins, who said in a video last week that they would stay off the field for the national anthem rather than participate in ’empty gestures.’ 

The Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets also remained in their locker rooms for the pregame ceremonies.

‘We don’t need another publicity parade. So we’ll just stay inside until it’s time to play the game,’ Miami players said in the video. ‘This attempt to unify only creates more divide. So we will skip the song and dance and as a team we’ll stay inside.’

Other teams lined up on their sideline or along the goal line and locked arms. 

A few dozen players – as well as Indianapolis coach Frank Reich – knelt during the anthem, a silent echo of the 2016 Kaepernick protest.

Several teams made a point of stressing on Sunday that their protest was not unpatriotic – a point Kaepernick also made, but which was often drowned out by those – including President Donald Trump – latching onto the issue.

‘To be clear – we were not protesting the flag, the anthem, or the men and women who wear the uniform,’ the Colts said in a statement. ‘The timing of this action is meant to highlight that the presence, power and oppression of racism remains inconsistent with the unity and freedoms of what it means to be an American.’

Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Patriots owner Robert Kraft joined their teams as they lined up on the goal line when ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ was played before their games. Quarterback Cam Newton, who was making his New England debut against Miami, appeared to be singing along.

The Dolphins remained in their locker room, as they promised in their 2-minute, 15-second video featuring nearly 20 players trading pointed rhymes about the nation’s social protest movement.

When the anthem began in Detroit, a slew of Lions walked off the field and headed toward their locker room; some remained on the field and knelt. On the other sideline, several Bears players took a knee while about 20 of their teammates waited for the anthem to end before jogging onto the field. 

The NFL had been at the center of social justice protests in American sports ever since Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to call attention to the systematic oppression of Black people in the U.S. 

Kaepernick, who led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in 2012 and the NFC title game the next year, was unable to get a job in the league in 2017 – or since.

But the football league was in its offseason when Breonna Taylor was shot in her own apartment by Louisville police in March; when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes in May, killing him; when Jacob Blake was shot and paralyzed by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police in August; and when protests over those and other acts of violence against black Americans erupted across the nation.

Goodell posted a video in June conceding that the league had been late in acknowledging the problem. Since then, the league has taken largely symbolic steps like allowing racial justice messages in end zones and on helmets and T-shirts.

Some team owners have pledged money toward social justice causes or offered their stadiums as polling places for the November election.