Players kneeling for anthem booed before MLS game

Players from FC Dallas and Nashville SC were booed when they collectively took a knee during the national anthem before their MLS game on Wednesday night in Frisco, Texas. Dallas defender Reggie Cannon said he was disgusted by the boos at Toyota Stadium when players and officials knelt to call attention to racial injustice.

He said teammate Ryan Hollingshead turned to him afterward and said he was sorry.

“You can’t even have support from your own fans in your own stadium. It’s baffling to me,” Cannon said. “As a team we try to give the best possible product on the field and these last six months have been absolute hell for us. Absolute hell.”

Aug 12, 2020; Dallas, Texas, USA; FC Dallas and Nashville SC players kneel before a match at Toyota Stadium.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Dallas and Nashville had not played a game since the season was suspended on March 12 because of the coronavirus. While Major League Soccer’s other teams played in the MLS is Back tournament in Florida over the past month, Dallas and Nashville were forced to withdraw before the start because of positive COVID-19 tests among players from both teams.

The teams met as MLS restarts the regular season in local markets. Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order in June that permitted open-air sports venues like Toyota Stadium to host events at 50% capacity.

Aug 12, 2020; Dallas, Texas, USA; Nashville SC kneel before the match against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

CBS DFW reports FC Dallas chose to allow only a few thousand fans in, which is less than 25% of the stadium’s capacity. According to the team, 2,912 fans attended Wednesday’s match.

Nashville won the game, 1-0. The two teams meet again on Sunday.

The death of George Floyd has spurred a number of MLS players to form the group Black Players for Change, which seeks to address systemic racism in soccer and society.

At the opening game of the MLS tournament in Florida, members of the group collectively stood in silence, fists raised, for more than eight minutes. Players and coaches wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts throughout the event.

Eight minutes, 46 seconds is the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was pinned to the ground under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee before he died.

Players and coaches wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts throughout the event.

The anthem was not played before games at the tournament. Cannon said the players had asked that it not be played before the game because they didn’t feel it was right “for the anthem to be played in this moment.”

“We had someone chanting U.S.A., but they don’t understand what kneeling means. They don’t understand why we’re kneeling. They can’t see the reason. They think we’re the ignorant ones,” Cannon said. “It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m sorry to have this tone, but you have to call it for what it is.”

Cannon said he expected to have some negative pushback over the unified response.

“It hurts me because I love our fans, I love this club, and I want to see the support that the league has given us, that everyone has given us, from our fans,” he said.