Irish Examiner View: Sensible move not to allow taking the knee to become routine

The power of the protest can be lost through over-familiarity and over-use.

Alex Iwobi and Seamus Coleman of Everton take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement prior to the Premier League match between Leeds United and Everton at Elland Road on August 21, 2021. Picture: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

The return of the Premier League for its 30th season marks a series of new beginnings, but also the end of a weekly fixture which has been with us since June 2020 — the ritual of players “taking the knee”.

It remains to be seen whether active support against racism stays as visible now that this admittedly short-lived tradition has been put aside, but it was always a potentially divisive issue, particularly among those who resist sport being appropriated for political objective.

Taking the knee may experience a resurgence on the next examples of racial intolerance, bigotry, and controversy, but, for now, it is sensible that the power of the protest is not lost through over-familiarity, over-use, and routine. 

We have not seen the end of it, any more than the Black Power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, was the last of its kind.