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15th June 2021
06:26pm BST

"She seemed so interested and engrossed in players' point-of-view, and what we could do more to tackle these sort of issues. "But, at the same time, everybody's entitled to their own opinion and the Home Secretary is one of many many people that oppose us taking the knee, or refuse to defend it. "We have our own set of beliefs, and what we think we can do to help or be players that can be influential and can stand up for what we believe in. "And understandably when you have such strong beliefs, there will be opposition to that. "We've spoken about it a lot. We've spoken about trying to educate, or trying to inform, the minority who refuse to acknowledge why we're taking the knee and want to boo it. "But, at the same time, in Wembley there was a hugely positive reaction to us taking the knee as well, and I don't think that should be overshadowed by the minority that refuse to accept what the reasons are or don't agree with them."The FA released a statement clarifying their reasons for taking the knee prior to Euro 2020 after a small minority of the crowd that watched the warm-up fixtures in Middlesbrough decided to boo. The statement also explained that they would continue to take the knee throughout the tournament. Although there was some booing at Wembley on Sunday afternoon, it was swiftly drowned out by cheers of approval from the vast majority of those inside the stadium. Scotland's players have opted not to take the knee throughout the tournament but have made an exception for the game against England this Friday, a decision for which they were praised by Nicola Sturgeon. A tweet from Scotland's First Minister said: "From kick-off at Wembley next Friday, @ScotlandNT and @EnglandFootball will be the fiercest of opponents - but before that, the players will unite in solidarity against racism. Good decision, Scotland - well done!"
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