England and Man City star Marc Guehi has refused to take the knee for the second week running.
Guehi, alongside Ipswich Town‘s Issa Diop, Everton‘s Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Leeds‘ Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Bournemouth‘s Rayan and Tyler Adams, remained standing when the Premier League rolled out its ‘No Room for Racism’ initiative last weekend.
Footballers in England’s top flight have been given the opportunity to take the knee across two weekends this month in an effort to challenge discrimination.
Guehi, who this week suggested taking the knee had ‘lost its meaning’, refused to kneel before kick-off at Villa Park today as league leaders City took on Aston Villa, instead he remained standing and clapped.
When asked whether he had spoken to his players about taking the knee, City boss Enzo Maresca said: ‘No, the players are already aware of the information.’
The England star’s stance follows Diop, who also doubled down last night when Ipswich hosted Nottingham Forest at Portman Road.
Diop was the only player among the 22 on the pitch to remain standing as Forest‘s starters and his own team-mates all opted to take part.
Marc Guehi refused to kneel for the second week running on Saturday
Issa Diop (right) can be seen standing while other players take the knee prior to Ipswich Town’s clash with Nottingham Forest on Friday night
Every other player on the pitch at Portman Road took the knee while Diop remained standing
Diop has not spoken publicly about his stance but the move has divided players, some of whom view it as a hollow gesture.
When asked about Calvert-Lewin’s viewpoint last week, Leeds manager Daniel Farke explained his striker’s thinking, saying: ‘Dom is more or less like, “No, I don’t go down. I show my respect by standing up.”
‘Every individual is different and shows respect for this campaign in a different way. It’s definitely a good campaign and a good topic that football and sports, in general, support situations like this because a dressing room is a perfect example of how we should all live together.
‘Different passports, different languages, different religions, but they are all together as human beings and friends who work together toward one target. This is how the world should be.’
The campaign was previously enacted before every game until it stopped in August 2022 having been started in the UK in 2020 following the death of George Floyd in US police custody, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
Subsequently, a decision was made to limit the gesture to match rounds falling during the No Room For Racism initiative.
It was agreed ahead of the season among Premier League captains that they would continue to perform the gesture twice over 38 rounds.
While the vast majority of players have taken part, some strong opposition has been voiced, notably by Wilfried Zaha in 2021, who said: ‘I feel like taking the knee is degrading, because growing up my parents just let me know that I should be proud to be black no matter what and I feel like we should just stand tall.’
And last year, the Lionesses chose not to kneel before their Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy following racist abuse aimed at defender Jess Carter on social media.
Captain Lucy Bronze said the anti-racism message is not ‘as strong as it used to be’ following the abuse of her team-mate.
‘It was driven by the group – obviously certain individuals more than others,’ Bronze explained. ‘I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? Because to us it feels like it’s not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles was one of six Premier League players who refused to take the knee last weekend, pictured standing ahead of Everton’s 2-0 defeat against Chelsea on Saturday
‘It’s about putting another statement out there to say, it’s something that still is a problem, it’s something that still needs to be put right. More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don’t exactly know.’
But the head of football’s international anti-discrimination body, Fare, questioned the Lionesses’ decision to stop taking the knee.
Piara Powar told BBC Sport: ‘The players have taken a decision to stop taking the knee, which is their right.
‘Personally don’t see the link between the two. The taking of the knee is a powerful anti-racist act and this England team have shown leadership across Europe in taking it for so long.
‘Powerful actions are needed right now, to deal with the issues that are being played out as we speak.’
