Man United Legend Rio Ferdinand Blasts 'Ignorant' England Fans For Booing Players Who Take The Knee

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has launched a scathing attack on fans who booed England players for taking the knee.

Some England fans booed players who took the knee during the Three Lions' Euro 2020 warm-up matches against Austria and Romania.

Gareth Southgate slammed fans who booed the England players, saying it was "not something on behalf of our black players I wanted to hear because it feels as though it's a criticism of them."

The 50-year-old Three Lions boss insisted that England are "determined more than ever to take a knee" during their matches at the forthcoming tournament.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker voiced his frustrations on social media as he said fans who booed them were "part of the reason why players are taking the knee."

Several footballers have opted to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by taking the knee, while Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha was the first Premier League player to stop doing it.

Ferdinand has insisted that taking the knee is not a "political stance" and it has "nothing to do" with the BLM movement.

The 42-year-old BT Sport pundit added the "stance is about racism" and argued there is "no valid reason for booing."

Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand explained: "These fans, these ignorant people going to these games, they haven't got a clue.

"They don't know what the players are kneeling for. It's not a political stance.

"All these people saying, 'BLM is a political movement' -- [the knee] is nothing to do with [BLM]. So take that out of your mind.

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"The players, the manager are telling you, 'This is not a political campaign, the reason why we kneel is nothing to do with politics.'

"This stance is about racism, about people being treated the right way and respectfully, and not based on the colour of their skin.

"There is no valid reason for booing. They're meant to be here helping the team, pushing them along. The players' narrative around this is nothing to do with politics so please just support this team, support these players.

"They don't want injustice, they don't want people to be judged off the colour of their skin. And they're kneeling because of that. So why are you booing?"

England will begin their Euro 2020 campaign on 13th June as they clash with 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia at Wembley Stadium.

Topics: Black Lives Matter, Football, blm, England, Rio Ferdinand

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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