The mountain gave birth to a mouse. After the media-political storm triggered by the decision of the Blues to mark their commitment against racism by kneeling on the lawn before kick-off, nothing. Analysis of Captain Lloris’ explanations.
Mastery, how far? Seen from the stands, the victory of the Blues on Tuesday (1-0) against the Mannschaft said discipline and control to the heart of the often twisted fight imposed by Toni Kroos and others. It seems that this retreat and this domestication have also invited themselves to the edge of the meeting. The day before the Munich match, the tricolor goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had recorded the renewal of the knee to the ground posed by the players a few seconds before kick-off, a gesture that the selection had made before the friendly match of June 2 in Nice against the Welsh selection (3-0): “Apparently it’s planned, so yes”, replied the captain of the Blues to a question about this tribute to George Floyd, killed by agent Derek Chauvin in May 2020, who has become the global symbol of the fight against racism and police violence. Tuesday, before the kickoff of the match against Germany: nothing at all.
Lloris was therefore invited to explain himself after the game: “The knee on the ground, it was a collective decision. We start from the principle that if we have to do it, all the nations must do it with the support of the European Football Union. [l’UEFA, organisatrice de l’événement]. This is the case in the Premier League [le championnat anglais], where the movement has been together and united. In this competition, it is less the case. “ At the Euro, the Belgians and the English fell to their knees, the latter against the advice of their Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel. “It does not mean that we do not support the cause, Lloris added. Above all, we do not want racism in our sport and in society. There is no debate, we are all together in the decision. ”
“A vector of tension and tension”
The goalkeeper of the Blues is three times wrong. One: the question has been discussed in the tricolor locker room. Where some executives like Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba or Kylian Mbappé, have already taken a position on similar subjects. Two: we do not see how the position on the subject of a Slovak goalkeeper or a Magyar selection under the influence of Viktor Orban (“Hungarians only kneel before God, the homeland and the woman they love”, dropped the Hungarian Prime Minister just before the start of the competition) would have an impact on what the French players want to do or not.
Three: the day after the Munich match, UEFA still had not given any instructions or sent any reminder to order on the subject. Free subject. This Wednesday, the day after the victory against Germany and the change of foot of the French, vice-captain Raphaël Varane was revived on the case, a sign that Lloris had not convinced many people and that there was holes to be plugged. “It’s a decision made by all the players, said the Madrid defender. It is a cause that we have supported from the start, the whole team shares the fight against racism and discrimination that is attached to the Black Lives Matter movement. But today, this knee on the ground does not symbolize the same thing as at its beginnings, in May 2020. It is a vector of tension and tension, for example between a team which decides to put a knee on the ground before the kickoff and a team that chooses not to. Now the message is neither clear nor unanimous. So we decided not to do it. There are 26 players in the group, of social origin, skin color or different origins. But our goals are the same. We can also pass the message by underlining this. After that, if all the teams want to drop to one knee, we’ll be happy to do it again. ”
Neutrality is sometimes a burden
It is not tomorrow the day before during this Euro, some teams having marked a frank hostility towards the approach, like the Russian players on Saturday, seeing the Belgians kneel in front of them. The version given by Varane appears credible. The coach, Didier Deschamps, does not usually interfere so far in matters of political sensitivity and the private sector, unless of course something is asked of him. And the president of the Federation, Noël Le Graët, had publicly pressed the knee to the ground of the French players, explaining to be “Very favorable” to the process: “That our young players become aware of these difficulties, I find it very honorable and intelligent of them.”
The players therefore turned around. We must hear the opening remarks of the goalkeeper of the Blues, Lloris, the day before the match in Germany. His “apparently” marks a distance which, at this experience level, has no chance of falling from the sky. The initiative having been abandoned, remains the idea of a selection thought not as a crucible where each one brings its difference but as a neutral zone, obsessed with the idea of avoiding debates that it knows not to be able to. control. The far right having seized on this story of knee to the ground in all directions for a week (after having launched the controversy over the song of rapper Youssoupha for the France team, Write my name in blue), the abandonment of the gesture returns punctually, and incidentally, to “To prove a racist part of France right”, to resume the famous exit of Karim Benzema criticizing Deschamps’ decision to dismiss him before Euro 2016. The Blues do not come out. Neutrality is sometimes a burden.
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