NWSL says players can stay in locker rooms while national anthem plays

NWSL Challenge Cup players now have the option to remain in the locker room during the national anthem, the league announced in a statement Monday.

The change comes after the first two games of the league’s return to competition last weekend produced startling images of most players kneeling during the anthem, but some chose to remain standing, images they may have overshadowed. the games that followed.

“The NWSL supports every player, official and staff member,” the league said in a statement, noting that it consulted with players, club officials and other interested parties. “Kneel down in the field. Stand with your hand over your heart. Honor your feelings in the privacy of the locker room or in the middle of the field.”

Although there are no fans present at the Challenge Cup, a 23-month-long tournament in the Salt Lake City area marked the return of professional team sports leagues in the United States over the weekend. The NWSL continues to play the anthem before games, with all games televised or broadcast online, and Saturday broadcasts, including the anthem.

All 22 starters knelt during a live performance of the anthem ahead of Saturday’s televised opening match between North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns. Players from those teams then issued a joint statement explaining that they were protesting “racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic racism” with the gesture.

But the footage from the second game of the day between the Chicago Red Stars and the Washington Spirit was less consistent. Four starters remained standing during the anthem, including at least one of both teams. In the same camera shots, the Red Stars and US national team midfielder Julie Ertz appeared to comfort the club and international teammate Casey Short as they cried as the couple knelt.

Ertz and Short did not comment on the moment captured in a photo released on the league’s official Twitter account, with teammate Rachel Hill standing alongside them.

All of the payers wore Black Lives Matter jerseys during the anthem and knelt in a later moment of silence immediately before the start, as seen in European professional leagues in recent weeks.

Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler tweeted after his team’s game that “We are unanimous and committed to supporting BLM,” but that no one should feel the pressure to stand or kneel during the anthem.

“‘[J]Pushing someone you don’t know is wrong, “Whisler said in a series of tweets.” Making all players stand tall is wrong. Getting all the players to kneel is wrong. And yes, I think the anthem should be separate from player strikes or not in stadiums for non-national games. “

Red Stars advocate Sarah Gorden also knelt on the field during the anthem and explained her reasoning in an Instagram post on Sunday.

“I will stop when the people behind bars are not disproportionately black or Latino,” said the caption. “When my son can go to his neighborhood school because he has the same resources that we ask for in the rich white neighborhood. When black people are not denied bank loans or jobs because they have ‘black names’.

“When black people have more than 2.7% of the wealth of countries when they represent 15% of the population. I will stay on my feet when black mothers are not 3 times more likely to die in childbirth than a white woman. When the police are held responsible and sent to jail for murdering innocent black men and women. I will stand up when the country looks the same to my black son as it does to his white son / daughter. Until then, I kneel down. “

Washington forward Ashley Hatch was one of the starters who chose to stand up during the anthem before his team’s game on Saturday. Hatch later posted on Instagram that he planned to donate all of the bonus money received by targets to the NAACP and DC Scores, a local organization that “creates neighborhood teams that give needy children the confidence and skills to succeed in the playing field, in the classroom and in life. “

She scored one of Washington’s two goals in her opening victory.

“I spent a lot of time learning, trying to understand and discussing problems with the people closest to me,” Hatch wrote in his post. “I want to make it clear that I do my best to love and respect everyone in the best possible way because I believe we are all brothers and sisters.”

The tournament resumes on Tuesday with Houston Dash playing Utah Royals and Sky Blue playing OL Reign.