The day after releasing this statement, before their game against Barnsley, the referee blew his whistle and the Brentford players remained standing. Brentford are currently one of the few teams within the EFL that have decided to no longer a knee, since the movement came to English Football back in mid 2020.

 

Ivan Toney, Brentford’s most influential player, and top Championship goal scorer gave a player insight, into exactly why the club came to this decision. He told Sky Sports that “We have been taking the knee for however long now and still nothing has changed. We are kind of being used as puppets; take the knee and the people at the top can rest for a while now”.

 

Brentford, along with an increasing number of Championship clubs are now not taking a knee and have been the catalyst for some very important conversations, between clubs, players, fans and governing bodies.  

 

Matthew Knight, 26, is a lifelong fan of Brentford FC, and has shone some light on the fan’s perspective of Brentford’s decision.  

Matthew used to regularly attend games in Brentford, before relocating to Abergavenny. He does still (pre covid) travel across from Wales to watch the Bees play with his Dad, whenever possible. In an interview with Matthew, surrounding Brentford’s choice he was able to give an insightful standpoint.

 

Do you agree with Brentford’s decision to no longer take the knee?

 

“I would firstly like to say that as a white British male, I haven’t personally been targeted by racial abuse. But as a fan of the club, I agree with the Brentford players taking the decision to no longer take the knee. This is due to the fact that this decision has come directly from the dressing room and has not been made by those wearing suits in the boardroom.

 

“If the players feel that this is no longer having an impact, I support them in their decision making. With Brentford aiming to be the most inclusive club in the country, I hope to see more results from behind the scenes which backs up this decision.”

 

Do you think more needs to be done to protect players from online abuse?

 

“I think that a lot more needs to be done to protect players from online abuse. It comes from people being able to remain anonymous on social media and hide behind this. I believe that fans also need to be protected from online abuse as you quite often see comments being aimed from opposition fans to each other.

 

“Players shouldn’t feel the need to delete their personal account as a result of online abuse, action should be taken to ensure that it doesn’t occur in the first place whether that is Racial abuse, homophobic abuse or anti-Semitism to name just a few.”

 

When asked about how often he comes across racial abuse online Matthew said “I rarely come across comments on my personal timelines” he went on to say however, “when you click on a club's tweet and scroll through the replies, that is when you get to see the ugly side of social media and that is far too often”.

 

Matthew believes like so many, we are living in 2021, this sort of abuse should not be happening.

 

What more could be done to protect players from these kinds of comments?

 

“I personally believe that one of the biggest causes of online racial abuse is due to a lack of education. Some might argue that enough is being taught in schools to combat this, but the fact that it still occurs is evidence to suggest the opposite.

 

“I also think that more needs to be done from the social media platforms to ensure that when someone sets up an account, a verification such as a photo of a drivers licence or passport scan is needed to ensure that any abuse from the specific account is traceable back to the owner.

 

“This might happen behind the scenes, but I would like to see clubs’ partner together and then with the local police authorities to work together in finding those responsible. For example, teams based in London working together with the Metropolitan Police would hopefully add another level of protection to players.”

 

Do you think other clubs should follow in Brentford’s footsteps?

 

“I feel that decision should come directly from the players of the clubs. If they feel that taking a knee is working, then I welcome them to keep taking this action. But if they feel the opposite then I would like them to make the decision for themselves and then adopt the Brentford approach and put both time and effort in behind the scenes to make a difference.

 

“I read this week that Bournemouth have also decided to stop taking the knee and join Brentford. Again, this decision has come directly from the players which is the correct way of deciding.”

 

An insightful conversation directly from the mouth of a devoted Brentford fan proves the importance of conversation surrounding this ongoing issue of online racial abuse. Also highlighting how there must be further discussion of how club's