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Thousands of Hungarian fans booed loudly as the Irish soccer team took the knee to protest against racism ahead of their friendly match in Budapest on Tuesday.
After the game, Ireland manager Stephen Kenny said the Irish players had made the “right decision” by kneeling and that the booing was “incomprehensible”.
In the lead up to this month’s Euros tournament, which kicks off today, English soccer players have also endured booing from their own fans when kneeling before games.
What is behind the opposition – are racist attitudes to blame, or is it something more?
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On today’s In the News podcast, Ken Early talks to Sorcha Pollak about why players are taking the knee, why some fans are booing them for doing so and what effect it could have on the Euros.
In the podcast, Early says he wasn’t surprised to see Hungarian fans booing Irish players for kneeling on Tuesday given the right-wing policies of the nation’s government but he also argues that the booing is actually re-energising the symbolism of taking the knee.
“The booing makes you go ‘hold on a second, there actually is a problem’. There are people who don’t want to hear this message. There are people who are trying to drown out the message that there is racial injustice that needs to be addressed.”
In the News is presented by reporters Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope.
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