Swansea City defender: 'I'll still take the knee'

[Beauty Sirikarn]

There's been a lot of discussion over whether footballers should continue to take the knee.

Some teams and players have said kneeling has lost its impact, but for Swansea City defender Joel Latibeaudiere that's not the case.

"We see it as a big gesture. We'll definitely be taking the knee," the 21-year-old tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"It's about sharing that recognition of everything that's going on in the world right now, not just in the UK."

Teams first started taking the knee in June to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Brentford have become the latest team to say they will no longer be doing it because they feel it has lost its impact, whilst Crystal Palace star Wilfred Zaha called the gesture "degrading".

Joel says the players and staff at Swansea have discussed it and are really keen to continue.

"We think it's really important, especially being a club with lots of ethnicities in it. It's a great symbol, especially football teams coming together and fighting the battle together."
Joel says: "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, I just think taking the knee is much better than doing nothing at all.

"It's not like it's [racism] stopped, it's still happening. Maybe even worse now than before and I think taking a knee still shows that everyone's still fighting against it." pg

Where does 'taking a knee' come from?
Joel points to seeing a section of Millwall fans booing their own team taking the knee when fans were first allowed back in stadiums.

"The players and staff have come together and you could just see how embarrassed they were [about the booing]," he adds.
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Beauty Sirikarn