Players to take a knee in Community Shield Games

Ladies and gentlemen will take a knee in double header Community Shield billed for Saturday in support of Black Life Matters campaign the FA has confirmed.

FA Cup Champions Manchester City ladies and Women’s Super League winners Chelsea ladies will slug it out in the first match billed for 12:30pm before FA Cup winners Arsenal and Premier League holders Liverpool take the stage at 4:30pm.

An FA spokesperson said: “Players in both the Women’s and Men’s FA Community Shield matches this weekend will take a knee before kick-off in order to show solidarity to the black community and to highlight inequality and injustice experienced by this community.

“The FA will continue to support any player who wishes to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking a knee.

“We will also use the digital LED screens at Wembley Stadium for select periods during both matches to display our continued stance against all types of discrimination.”

The kneeling gesture, first made by San Francisco 49ers quarter-back Colin Kaepernick in the NFL in 2016, has been used as a symbol of defiance in sport towards racism over the last few months, sparked by the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

Thierry Henry knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds before Montreal Impact’s MLS game with New England Revolution in July, the same amount of time that a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of Floyd.

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Meanwhile, the NBA season is in jeopardy over player protests against the shooting of Jacob Blake, with matches in the MLB, WNBA and MLS also postponed following player-led actions in response to the incident.