Thoughts on The New NFL National Anthem Rules

This will be by far my most important blog yet. Talking about the newly implemented National Anthem rules made by the NFL just a few days ago. This blog is going to be straight from the head. No data, no stats, no numbers, just stated facts mixed with my own pure opinion on this matter. You have the choice to agree or disagree with my position on this matter. If you want to further discuss this leave comments on my Facebook page APW Sports, Twitter page @APWSports, & Instagram page @APWSports. Let’s dive into it.

            The new policy states the following:

1.     All team & league personnel on the field shall stand and show respect for the flag & the Anthem.

2.     The Game Operations Manual will be revised to remove the requirement that all players be on the field for the Anthem.

3.     Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room or in a similar location off the field until after the Anthem has been performed.

4.     A club will be fined by the League if its personnel are on the field and do not stand and show respect for the flag & Anthem.

5.     Each club may develop its own work rules, consistent with the above principles, regarding personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.

6.     The commissioner will impose appropriate discipline on league personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and Anthem.

Here’s my opinion on the whole matter. I don’t agree with ANY of the rules implemented by the NFL. Here are my reasons why:

1.     It only escalates the situation and doesn’t solve anything

These new rules will only elevate the conversation more & create more headlines that the NFL thought they’d be done with creating these new rules. These rules I feel will only lead to more players protesting (which personally I’m fine with) because they won’t agree to the rules at all.

2.     This violates the players Freedom of Speech 1^st Amendment Rights.

This rule is meant to silence the players who have something to say about the racial injustices going on in this country. This rule is meant to take away their platform during the Anthem and spreading their message pertaining to racial injustice.

3.     The NFL is only trying to save face & it sends a message that they don’t care about the issues.

The NFL has partnerships with the U.S. Military and want to keep their partnership intact & keep generation income they obtain from the partnerships. They have many sponsors and a lot of their sponsors may have pulled out of the league didn’t implement a policy preventing the teams personnel from protesting during the Anthem. A lot of viewers have tuned away from the games due to the protests and want that audience back, so they can continue to prosper.

4.     This says the NFL doesn’t stand by their players.

By implementing this policy, the league is sending a direct message that they don’t stand by their players. 31 out of 32 team owners agreed to this new policy. (49ers are the one team that voted against it). Kudos to the 49ers by the way.

5.     Clearly, the message of the protest has been lost.

The NFL has lost sight of the message spread by the protest. It has never been about the military or the National Anthem itself. Players are using the platform to display their displeasure of the racial inequalities & police brutalities that have taken place in this country for many of years.

6.     It takes away from the reasons the protest started in the very first place.

The policy brings more attention to the NFL stopping the protest versus discussing what we can do to fix the issues that Colin Kaepernick started the protest in the very beginning. Racial Inequalities & Police Brutality. Instead of discussing the issues at hand, its has turned to stopping the protests.

This policy makes me lose a lot of respect for the NFL. It’s just showing a false sense of patriotism. I’m a proud African-American male & I stand with any message that just wants to see equality & fair treatment in this country. Just because a player kneels for the anthem doesn’t mean they don’t love the country they live in & despise it. It just sends a message that there are issues in this country that really haven’t been brought to the forefront & they want to use their professional athlete platform to display their message. If I were in the NFL & had a roster spot, I would still protest the anthem to continue the discussion about the issues. I wouldn’t care about the team getting fined because of it either. In my opinion they should’ve been fined for creating this insane policy in the first place.

THIS POLICY SUCKS.