Megan Rapinoe praised some of her soccer colleagues after kneeling before the opening game of the National Women’s Soccer League summer tournament.
The NWSL Challenge Cup is the first major team sport competition in the United States since the shutdown of Covid-19. Each member of the North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns knelt during the national anthem, while players and coaches wore Black Lives Matter jerseys before kick-off.
“They love to see it,” Rapinoe wrote on Twitter. “They love to see how these women use their voices and ask better for America and for black and colored people.”
Megan Rapinoe
(@mPinoe)You love to see They love to see these women with their voices who call for America better and for black and colored people. @TheNCCourage and @ThornsFC kneel in solidarity with @ Kaepernick7 and @Blklivesmatter ✊????✊????✊????✊????✊???? pic.twitter.com/8Urlj5FMPn
June 27, 2020
Rapinoe, who plays for OL Reign but opted out of the Challenge Cup, was criticized when she knelt in 2016 for an NWSL game and two national team games. She said she wanted to express solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. who took one knee during the anthem to draw attention to racial inequality.
In response, US Soccer passed a rule that players must stand. However, this rule was lifted earlier this month due to nationwide protests against George Floyd’s death and racial inequality.
In a pre-game statement released on network television, Thorns and Courage said they “took a knee today to protest racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic racism against black and black people in the United States”.
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