Some Ibrox fans have taken to Twitter to criticise their club after their players showed respect for George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign by taking the knee before the friendly match with Lyon.
Over the last two months it has become a common feature at sporting events, for the first week of the resumed EPL campaign the phrase BLACK LIVES MATTER replaced player names on the back of shirts.
Jermain Defoe has been vocal in his support of the issue but a large number of Ibrox fans are fiercely opposed to showing support for the BLM campaign.
Race clearly isn’t an issue with Steven Gerrard with almost half of his first team squad being non-white but the reaction on Twitter suggests that that approach isn’t welcomed by a large sector of the club support.
Last season parts of Ibrox were closed by UEFA for two matches following racist actions by supporters.
Those sanctions provoked the club into launching an inclusive project titled Anyone Everyone but after almost a year in action there is clearly a lot of work to be done.
All lives matter.
I’m done.
The Rangers I once knew are gone.— nemo me impune lacessit (@battlefeverson) July 16, 2020
Bitterly disappointed we stooped to that level. A president has been set now and will the club also call out the ever growing discrimination against the Protestant community especially in nationalist run Glasgow City ? I won’t hold my breath
— Andrew OF (@AndrewOAyrshire) July 16, 2020
Broken the golden rule, letting politics into football. It splits the fans. It erodes the support what’s next the can can because your in France.
Good win tonight against a decent team keep it up and we might just let this blow over but not impressed.— Simply_WATP ????????? (@Rabnsfb) July 16, 2020
No need to stand with Marxist left wing rioters.
Are we now backing defunding our police force then ?
— G450 x2 ?? RFC. (@racingfront) July 16, 2020
Not for me Rangers, sorry. Someone needs to be brave enough to end this!
— Daddy Bear (@theliftman07) July 16, 2020
If you’re going to bucket it under a philosophy, at best its organic Marxism, not cultural. Cultural would mean widely accepted by the community representing. This is a global movement and its the most important movement of the 21st Century
— Tdog (@tdog_123) July 16, 2020
If you need to put a colour in front on Lives matter you are the problem #AllLivesMattter
— Ian Watters (@iwatters_ian) July 16, 2020
So proud of Rangers for doing this and weeding out all the racist scum in our support. Why people think this is political is beyond me. I thought our support was better than that but clearly not. Thank you for doing this and standing up for what is right
— Graham Provan (@punx4life) July 16, 2020
Black Power salute from our Captain. Sickening.
— JGM 0.3K (@JaguarGuitarMan) July 16, 2020
ALL LIVES MATTER!!!! Remember the ANYONE EVERYONE campaign?????!!!!!!! Yet you single out blacks for special attention ?
— Ulster-Scot (@scot_ulster) July 16, 2020