England Stars Urged To Continue Taking The Knee As It Is 'Very Important And Powerful'

England stars have been told that it is "very important and powerful" for them to continue 'taking the knee' ahead of the Three Lions' World Cup qualifiers.

Celtic and Rangers became the latest sides not to take the knee ahead of last week's Old Firm clash after Glen Kamara claimed he was racially abused by Slavia Prague's Ondrej Kudela.

Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha also became the first Premier League player to not take the knee as the 28-year-old decided to stand ahead of his side's 1-0 win over West Brom.

The Daily Mirror now reports that senior England players held a team meeting over the polarising decision to take the knee.

The newspaper claims that they have had 'reassurances' from FIFA that they would not face any sanctions should they decide to take the knee in their upcoming matches.

England players are 'overwhelmingly in favour' of continuing the anti-racism protest ahead of matches, according to The Mirror.

Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings and fellow teammate Ollie Watkins are in full support of taking the knee.

Watkins, who was called up by Gareth Southgate for the England squad, has argued that taking the knee is a "very powerful message that people are still talking about."

The 25-year-old Villa forward explained: "We are all going to be together and have a collective group decision on what we do. But I feel like we should carry on doing what we are doing. Take the knee.

"People are talking about it and as far as I am aware that is good enough for me. As long as people are still talking about it and remember how powerful it is, then we should keep doing it.

"I think everyone has their own different opinions. Like Tyrone said, and delivered really well, I think it is important that we keep doing it.

"I know it is a very touchy subject and I think it is a very powerful message that people are still talking about it. It reminds people why we are doing it."

England will face San Marino, Albania and Poland in World Cup qualifying matches over the course of the international break.

Southgate's men will host San Marino at Wembley on Wednesday for a 7:45pm UK kick-off.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football, England

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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