Holding praises England footballers' 'backbone' in taking a knee
Michael Holding has praised the decision of England's footballers to continue taking a knee.
BIRMINGHAM (AFP) - West Indies great Michael Holding has praised the decision of England s footballers to continue taking a knee, saying they are doing more than their cricket counterparts to combat racism.
The former paceman last year called for meaningful change to tackle injustice, saying he had encountered abuse as a young player in England and Australia.
Holding, now a commentator, returned to the theme on Friday during the second day s play in the second Test between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston.
"The footballers, (manager) Gareth Southgate and the England team, I applaud them for what they re doing," he said.
"They are getting a lot of stick for taking the knee (in Euro 2020 warm-up games), they re getting booed, but they are showing some backbone.
"They re saying we re doing it because we know what we re doing -- not for a political movement, we re doing it for humanitarian reasons ."
England and New Zealand shared a "moment of unity" before Thursday s opening day of the second Test, but the 67-year-old Holding was unimpressed.
"I m not going to talk about political movements," he said. "I care about the three words -- Black Lives Matter.
"What this England (cricket) team is doing, this moment of unity , is not supporting Black Lives Matter. Don t tell me that s supporting Black Lives Matter."
Holding, who has written a book "Why We Kneel, How We Rise", believes things are changing, albeit not as quickly as he would like.
"Progress is definitely being made but I d love to have seen a lot more (being done) in this country (Britain)," he said.
"I want this country to take a firm grip on the situation but people are accepting things are wrong and we can move forward.
"But I m very disappointed with people saying Black Lives Matter is Marxist. They wouldn t even know what Marxism is or what it stood for -- but they tell you that because they are trying to pull down Black Lives Matter."
