U.S. Soccer Takes on Role of Third-World Dictator
By Ken Reed
In the wake of women’s national team member Megan Rapinoe’s decision to kneel during the national anthem last September in protest of injustices she was seeing in the United States, the U.S. Soccer Federation has issued a new rule REQUIRING all players to “stand respectfully” during the Star Spangled Banner.
If you took the “U.S.” part out, and inserted “Syria” or “North Korea” in front of “Soccer Federation” you would understandably think the new rule had been passed down from dictators Bashar al-Assad and Kim Jong-un.
What happened to the First Amendment, the thing that more than anything else separates us from Syria and North Korea?
As a country, we’ve always cherished the freedoms we have relative to citizens of other countries. Allowing our athletes to kneel during the national anthem — if that is what their consciences are moving them to do — sends a symbolic message to the rest of the world that says, “We value the free speech rights of our citizens more than we do their postures during our national anthem.”
Personally, I think it’s appropriate to stand during the national anthem, for a variety of reasons, but I also support my fellow citizens’ First Amendment right to do otherwise.
I also would prefer that U.S. Soccer spent more time figuring out ways to pay the men’s and women’s national teams equally, than worrying about whether players stand or kneel during the Star Spangled Banner. To me, equal pay for equal work is a more important American value than how erect one stands during the national anthem.
We’re better than this silly national anthem policy from U.S. Soccer. We’re Americans.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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