Dominic Calvert-Lewin refused to take the knee on a day where sections of the Turf Moor crowd booed as the rest of the Burnley and Leeds players performed the gesture.
Reiterating their commitment to tackling discrimination and highlighting diversity in football, the Premier League dedicated all of their fixtures between October 18 and October 26 to their No Room For Racism campaign.
Saturday was the first time this season that the knee has been taken by clubs.
In August 2022, the Premier League announced clubs would stop taking the knee before every match following consultations with players and the decision was made to limit the anti-racism gesture to the No Room For Racism match round.
Leeds confirmed to Daily Mail Sport that they let their players decide what they want to do, highlighting that Crysencio Summerville never took the knee when he was playing for the club either.
‘It’s up to the individual player. We had this taking the knee for such a long time’, said Leeds boss Daniel Farke.
Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin refused to take the knee ahead of Leeds’ match at Turf Moor
Players who took the knee at Turf Moor were both applauded and booed by fans on Saturday
Burnley and Leeds performed the gesture ahead of kick-off – and it brought a mixed reaction
The gesture was made in support of the Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign
‘I remember with Cree (Crysencio) Summerville who never took the knee and one day I asked and he said ‘I’d rather stand up against racism’ so everyone has their own ideas. You would have to ask him (Dominic). I wouldn’t interpret too much’, Farke added.
Meanwhile Burnley boss Scott Parker insisted that he wasn’t aware of the boos from the crowd.
There was applause and a small number of boos at the Stadium of Light before Sunderland’s clash with Wolves.
The gesture was received with gentle applause from the crowd at Brighton, who were hosting Newcastle, and at Fulham’s match against Arsenal, while it passed without reaction at Manchester City’s clash with Everton at the Etihad and Crystal Palace’s home game against Bournemouth.
There was also no crowd reaction at Nottingham Forest’s lunchtime clash with Chelsea – where all players took knee except for Forest goalkeeper Mats Sels, who did not appear to realise the gesture was happening as he was busy trying to hang his towel on his goal net.
At the women’s Euros in the summer, England, who took the knee before all their games as a gesture protesting against systematic racism and police brutality towards black people, refused to do so for their semi-final against Italy in solidarity with Jess Carter, who was racially abused online. The Lionesses decided that the message from kneeling was not being heard and that more needed to be done.
