Wilfried Zaha chose to stand ahead of Crystal Palace’s match against West Brom and became the first player in the Premier League to stop taking the knee.
Last month Zaha revealed that he would stop taking the knee and also indicated he was uncomfortable with wearing anti-racism slogans on his match jersey.
Having not started in Palace’s 4-1 defeat against Tottenham last time out, Zaha’s actions were not under scrutiny. But starting against West Brom, the winger was the only player from the 22 on the pitch to stand before kick-off.
A statement was released on behalf of Zaha just before the first whistle sounded at Selhurst Park.
It said: ‘My decision to stand at kick-off has been public knowledge for a couple of weeks now. There is no right or wrong decision, but for me personally I feel kneeling has just become a part of the pre-match routine and at the moment it doesn’t matter whether we kneel or stand, some of us still continue to receive abuse.
‘I know there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes at the Premier League and other authorities to make change, and I fully respect that, and everyone involved. I also fully respect my teammates and players at other clubs who continue to take the knee.
‘As a society, I feel we should be encouraging better education in schools, and social media companies should be taking stronger action against people who abuse others online – not just footballers.
‘I now just want to focus on football and enjoy being back playing on the pitch.
‘I will continue to stand tall.’
Speaking on the On the Judy podcast, Zaha said: ‘The whole kneeling down – why must I kneel down for you to show that we matter? Why must I even wear Black Lives Matter on the back of my top to show you that we matter? This is all degrading stuff.
‘When people constantly want to get me to do Black Lives Matter talks and racial talks and I’m like, I’m not doing it just so you can put ‘Zaha spoke for us’. Like a tick box, basically.
‘I’m not doing any more, because unless things change. I’m not coming to chat to you just for the sake of it, like all the interviews I’ve done. All these platforms – you see what’s happening, you see people making fake accounts to abuse black people constantly, but you don’t change it.
‘So don’t tell me to come and chat about stuff that’s not going to change. Change it. All that stuff that you lot are doing, all these charades mean nothing.’
Sky Sports’ co-commentator, Efan Ekoku, was asked for his opinion on Zaha’s stance after the Palace forward remained standing.
‘It’s his own personal choice,’ Ekoku said. ‘I for one applaud him that he’s voiced his opinion quite forcefully in recent weeks. I’m 100 per cent behind him.’