Skip to main content

Premier League Captains Vote To Stop Taking The Knee Before Every Game

Premier League players will not take the knee before every game in the upcoming 2022/23 season.

The pre-match demonstration was first introduced in the EPL in 2020 to support the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd's death in Minnesota after a white police officer had knelt on his neck for several minutes.

Premier League players and referees have since taken a knee before kick-off in every match.

They will do so again during the opening round of fixtures in the new season but not in week two.

Players from Crystal Palace and Chelsea pictured taking a knee before their Premier League match in February 2022

Players from Crystal Palace and Chelsea pictured taking a knee before their Premier League match in February 2022

Premier League captains voted to stop taking the knee before every game after consulting with their players.

It is understood that some players felt that the gesture had lost its significance.

But teams will still take the knee before games at specific times throughout the season when the Premier League's No Room For Racism campaign is active.

Players will take the knee before the first and last rounds of fixtures, as well as on December 26 when the season resumes after the FIFA World Cup.

The FA Cup and EFL Cup finals are also set to be preceded by a taking of the knee.

However, Bournemouth have announced that they will not be taking the knee at all as a team during the 2022/23 season.

Bournemouth, who were promoted from the EFL Championship last season, have not taken part in the pre-match gesture since February.

Former Bournemouth captain Steve Cook said in a statement in February: "Fighting all forms of discrimination and creating an equal, inclusive society is something that we feel very passionately about.

"But that is defined by much more than a gesture, which we feel has run its course and is no longer having the effect it first did eight months ago."