The U.S. Soccer Federation may eliminate a rule that requires national team players to stand during the national anthem, ESPN reports.
The federation’s board of directors is scheduled to meet on a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the policy and whether to repeal it, sources told ESPN.
If the board opts to repeal the rule, it would be scheduled for vote on Friday.
ESPN reports that a repeal would go into effect immediately if the vote passes, but it would still need to go through a vote from the National Council at the next general meeting scheduled for February or March of 2021 for a final decision.
The rule was put into place in 2017 after women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the anthem before a game in 2016. She was kneeling in support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as a way to protest social injustice. The former NFL player began kneeling during the National Anthem as a way to make a statement.
The USSF rule stated that national team representatives “shall stand respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which the Federation is represented.”
The discussion on the kneeling policy comes as the country is protesting the death of George Floyd, a black man, killed by a white former police officer in Minneapolis. People have begun kneeling as a way to remember Floyd and call for change when it comes to policing and systemic racism.
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