National Football League chief Roger Goodell has encouraged players to engage in community outreach in the wake of fresh protests against the national anthem during pre-season games.
Goodell told an Arizona Cardinals fan forum on Monday that while it was important to embrace different viewpoints, there was a “time and a place” to speak out.
The NFL Commissioner’s remarks came after Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett sat through a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner on Sunday to raise awareness of racism and intolerance.
Bennett’s protest followed an identical snub by Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who also remained seated during the anthem at a preseason game against Arizona.
It came amid nationwide soul-searching following violent clashes in Virginia on Saturday linked to a demonstration by white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members.
Goodell suggested he would prefer players to engage in community programmes rather than protest the anthem.
“I think it’s one of those things where I think we have to understand that there are people with different viewpoints,” Goodell said. “It’s something that I think everybody wants. The national anthem is a special moment to me. It’s a point of pride. That is a really important moment.
“But we also have to understand the other side that people do have rights and we want to respect those. But I was with the Jets a few weeks ago and one of the players was there in the fan forum actually and we were talking about this and they were asked the same question. And they said you know, there’s a time and a place.”
“And that’s what we all have to sort of understand. The responsibility of doing it at the right time and in the right way.
“And what we see is a lot of players going into the community and really taking the platform they have and being active and creating dialogue and actually making really positive change. And that’s what I think is so important.”
Seahawks player Bennett on Sunday said he had emulated Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 anthem protest to draw attention to racism.
The 31-year-old hit out at critics who claimed his protest was disrespectful to members of the US armed forces.
“First of all, I want people to understand that I love the military,” Bennett said. “My father’s in the military. I love hot dogs like any other American. I love football like any other American. But I don’t love segregation. I don’t love riots or oppression.
“I just want to see people have the equality that they deserve. And I want to be able to use this platform to continuously push the message of that.”
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kaepernick staged his protest last year to draw attention to treatment of minorities by law enforcement.
Since his protest, Kaepernick has been unable to find a team willing to hire him, prompting many players and pundits to believe he is being frozen out of the league as payback for his activism.
Bennett has worked with Kaepernick during the offseason to promote a campaign to raise awareness about rights.
“I hope that I can activate everybody to get off their hands and feet and go out into the communities and push helping each other,” Bennett said.
In this January 13, 2017, picture, Michael Bennett of Seattle Seahawks looks on in the game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, Georgia. Bennett chose to remain seated during the playing of the Stars and Stripes in the Sunday’s pre-season win over the Los Angeles Chargers, emulating Colin Kaepernick’s protest last season which drew a firestorm of criticism. (AFP)
