“Are these fuckers serious?” Troy Deeney, attacker from Watford, texts Leicester City captain Wes Morgan. The two players are both sitting in front of their laptops during a meeting at Zoom as part of Project Restart, the attempt in the spring to finish the discontinued Premier League season. Directors of the Premier League and the captains of all twenty clubs are present at the meeting. There are six meeting items on the agenda, but item number six, the way the competition deals with racial issues, is not even likely to be discussed. Deeney puts a stop to that.
George Floyd’s death sparks worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the summer of 2020. At the time of the meeting, the Premier League has not yet formulated a plan on how to respond to social developments. Eventually that does happen: during the first round of play after the interruption, the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ are on the back of the shirts instead of the player names. An emblem with the same text appears on the sleeve: an initiative of Kevin De Bruyne and Jordan Henderson. An emblem on the shirt also thanks the NHS healthcare system for its efforts during the corona pandemic.
However, things could have turned out differently, if Deeney did not ring the bell during that particular Zoom conversation. There were six agenda items ‘and at the bottom it was about race and how we would deal with it’, he tells the British newspaper i. He texted during the conversation with fellow captain Morgan of Leicester City. “It will be interesting to see what they are going to say about it,” he said. “Maybe they need some help.” But when the fifth agenda item was discussed, Deeney overheard one of the moderators say, “Unless someone has something to say, we’ll stick with this for today.”
“They wouldn’t even talk about it!”, Says Deeney a year later. “Not because they didn’t want to, but because it was a group of white men and women who didn’t want to have an awkward conversation.” Deeney texted Morgan: “Are these fuckers serious?Just before the meeting was due to end, Deeney wrote: “I’m going for it, are you behind me?” Yes, Deeney was told by Morgan. Deeney turned off his mute button. “To be honest, I have a big problem.” He mentions the things he then summed up: “What do we think about this, why don’t we say this, why don’t we do that, why do we do everything for the NHS but not for race? Eight minutes later I took a deep breath and said, ‘That’s it, done’. ”
Without immediately realizing it, Deeney caused a snowball effect. Before you knew it, Kevin De Bruyne said, ‘He’s absolutely right, I support him’, after which Jordan Henderson, Seamus Coleman and at one point everyone said the same thing. Kevin came up with the idea to put ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the back of the shirts. Jordan added, “That’s good, let’s do an emblem too.” I said, “My girl designs emblems, I can arrange that.” In 24 hours, we went from trying to get out of the conversation to replacing the Premier League crest with a Black Lives Matter crest. ”
Not just the shirts change. It is also first kneeled by all Premier League players prior to a match. That suggestion came from Sheffield United captain David McGoldrick, Deeney said. “It shows how powerful it can be if everyone makes a contribution. People at the top of the ladder will never be for change, because why would you change something that is going well and is profitable? But now we have, and this is going to sound really bad, the hearts and ears of middle-class white people. They see things happening and think: ‘This is going too far’. This is how change comes about. When Troy and Wes Morgan are talking about it, it won’t. But if Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson say they are ‘behind Troy’, then yes. Everyone must unite, just like we did with the Super League. You saw how the fans united and it collapsed like a house of cards. ”
Why are English clubs boycotting social media until Monday night?
English football has been united in a social media boycott this weekend.
The Premier League reunited this weekend. Social media is boycotted from Friday afternoon to Monday evening. Deeney now plays with Watford in the Championship, but that league is also participating in the boycott; the entire English football world has rallied behind it. “Social media has wonderful qualities. So many young people have become millionaires by streaming and showing people what they do. But as with everything else, there is also a downside. We live in a beautiful world, but there are ugly sides that we try to get rid of. Will you be able to eliminate everything? Of course not. Can you do it in a way that makes you happier and takes some account of what people say? That’s the most important thing to me. ”
On weekends, Premier League games are usually a trending topic in England, but this weekend there will be less coverage on social media. Deeney says that social media companies are being put to the test by the boycott. “This is four days, but imagine we do it for a month. All we want is to promote change. How come you can’t add a Justin Bieber song to your own video, because the algorithm says it’s copyrighted, but you can call someone a ni ** er and it’s totally fine? ”