Ever since the cult of kneeling for the Black Lives Matter movement arrived in Europe — primarily for English athletes led by Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton and the country’s footballers — politics has been pushing the basic meaning of sports, which is athletes competing with one another, into the background. If opponents of the English national team or English club teams are on their knees, the liberal media expects that rival teams to line up and get on their knees as well.
This was the case even after the recent England-Poland World Cup qualifier. There was little in the news about the fact that the Poles, who stood up without their biggest star, Robert Lewandowski, had a chance to score a goal until the very final moments of the match. Instead, the reports all concentrated on how the Poles — after the Czechs did the same — did not kneel before the match. The situation was similar with the1-1 draw between Arsenal and Slavia Praha in the Europa League quarterfinals. The Czechs’ otherwise brilliant scoring was dwarfed in the press, overshadowed by the fact that the Slavia players did not bring themselves to their knees with the Arsenal footballers before the opening whistle.
I will not go into detail about whether the kneeling cult of the Black Lives Matter movement (gaining new strength after George Floyd’s death) has a place on football pitches. In short: there is none. Nor will I go into more detail as to why the organizers of the various series of competitions — who are in principle pursuing politics from the realm of sports — do not take action against kneeling. The obvious reason is that if they did, they would be singled out for not condemning the oppression of people of colored skin. And liberal opinion leaders, holding BLM activists as a shield, would stand by the athletes and turn persecutors into persecuted.
There are still months left until the Hungary-England World Cup qualifiers, but in many places the question is already whether our team will follow the path of the Czechs and Poles or kneel. It is also possible that most of the team will remain standing, but the odd players playing in the Bundesliga will fall to their knees, in line with the expectations of their respective clubs. Which scenario will take place will be revealed at the beginning of the match on Sept. 2 in Budapest at the latest. I am confident that the V4 countries will stick together on this as well.
One thing is for sure: if the members of our national team do not kneel before the autumn match, it will be a topic for the liberal press for days. It was at this point that I began to think about how to suck the wind from the sails of the BLM movement and how to discourage kneeling English players from continuing the charade in Europe as well. I have come to the conclusion that we must do what they are, which is to draw attention to our own problems. On the one hand, we can put our worries in the spotlight, and at the same time, kneeling becomes secondary. And if others do the same after us, then after a while even those who are kneeling today will stand still because their action will lose its meaning.
So, what could our boys do before the start of the Sept. 2 match?
I have several ideas for this. For example, they could form a circle and point in all directions. This could draw the attention of the world public to the unjust Trianon peace treaty dating from the First World War, which resulted in the fact that we are the only country surrounded by ourselves. Players could stop with their hands held to the side, forming a cross, and draw attention to the persecution of Christians in many parts of the world. Our team could stretch out an “Autonomy” banner, which would allow Hungarians living across the border to stand up for their self-determination. With a “more peaceful” solution, players could shape hearts with their hands, showing that we are not driven by the fight against racists, but by love.
Whatever they do, they would serve a noble cause and in the process steal the show from the BLM movement’s campaign. And of course not incidentally, we can also beat the English. We could direct the world’s attention to ourselves with this, but for sure, we Hungarians would be very happy with the three points.
