On Saturday, a crowd of 35,000 Hungarian fans, mostly school children, booed the England team for taking the knee before Saturday’s defeat in Budapest, Hungary for the Nations League match.
The match was held “behind closed doors” following UEFA sanctions. Most kids attended the match after fans were banned due to the previous behavior of Hungary fans during Euro 2020 matches.
Hungary’s government has defended the young crowd for booing the England team for their ‘wokeness’ on Saturday’s Nations League match. Those criticizing the adverse reaction to England’s traditional gesture have also been branded ‘idiots,’ Express reported.
Gareth Southgate, England team’s men’s senior manager, responded to England players being booed.
“I have no idea why people would choose to boo that gesture. I think very often the young people especially they can’t know why they’re doing it so they’re being influenced by older adults.”
Hungary forced to play game behind closed doors due to fan racism, let in 30,000+ under 14s, who boo England players taking the knee pic.twitter.com/jt652RE310
— Sam Cunningham (@samcunningham) June 4, 2022
????????#Hungary Vs ????????????????????????????#England
Hungary’s national team had been sentenced to two UEFA home games without an audience, after fans unapologetically boo England “taking the knee”.
One Hungarian fan said: “I don’t care about BLM. I am here for football.” pic.twitter.com/0ms7q7Afi5
— Klaus Arminius (@Klaus_Arminius) June 5, 2022
Breitbart reported:
The booing has incensed Southgate and his fellow-travellers in politics and the media, not least because Hungary was supposed to be subject to a temporary spectator ban by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), following allegations that Hungarian fans had unfurled banners reading ‘ANTI LMBTQ’ — the Hungarian equivalent of LGBTQ — and making racist comments and gestures towards ethnic minority players.
In fact, some 35,000 Hungarians are believed to have attended the match, due to a loophole in the ban allowing under-14s from schools and football academies to attend with their parents, according to The Times.
Southgate complained that it was “difficult to understand” how the large number of Hungarian fans aligned with a ban on stadium attendance, suggesting that it “needs some consideration [from footballing authorities] without a doubt.”
“That’s why we do [take the knee] — to try to educate people around the world. I have no idea why people would try to boo that gesture,” Southgate said of his team’s continued kneeling, as if it was not well known by now that many associate it with the Black Lives Matter organisation’s stated far-left political goals, such as defunding the police, and a far-left worldview that implicitly asserts that the West is systematically racist more generally.