U.S. Football Federation will consider removing its policy which requires national team players to defend the national anthem, according to ESPN.
The federation’s board of directors will meet on Tuesday – on the orders of its president Cindy Parlow Cone – to discuss the policy and possibly vote on Friday. Revocation of the regulation will take effect immediately, but it still needs to pass votes from the National Council at the next general meeting scheduled for February or March 2021 to remain fully in force.
The rules adopted in 2017, which state national team representatives “must stand respectfully while playing the national anthem at every event where the Federation is represented,” were adopted in response to female national team star Megan Rapinoe kneeling during the song before the 2016 game. She doing so to show solidarity with midfielder 499 at the time, Colin Kaepernick as a way to protest social injustice. Rapinoe has obeyed the rules since it was adopted.
The policy evaluation was carried out as protests continued throughout the country after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25. Many demonstrators and several police officers knelt down to remember and honor Floyd.
