National anthem protests spread to CFL on Sunday

Ryan Young

National anthem protests spread to CFL on Sunday image

The NFL was full of protests on Sunday, with many players, coaches and owners kneeling or locking arms during the national anthem — or even skipping it all together. The protests, brought on from U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments calling for NFL players who protest the American national anthem to be fired, caused a ripple through the sports world over the weekend.

The Canadian Football League wasn’t exempt.

The Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders faced off yesterday afternoon in Regina. While players and coaches from both teams remained standing for the Canadian anthem before the game, many Roughriders locked arms in solidarity with players in the NFL.

Many voiced their support for NFL players protesting in the United States following the game, too.

“It’s sad and it’s disheartening to me as an American to see our president getting in bickering matches with people on Twitter, calling out athletes saying they should be fired,” Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who hails from Katy, Texas, said . “I’m glad we’re all uniting against that and I hope we take a stand against something that is unacceptable.”

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The CFL released a statement on Monday afternoon in response to the Roughriders’ linked arms, saying that they support their players’ peaceful protests.

“We cherish our anthem because of the values it has come to represent,” The league said in a statement . "One of those values is freedom of expression. Regardless of whether we liked it or agreed with it, we would absolutely respect our players’ right to express their views in this way, which is peaceful and does not disrupt our game in any way. If the words ‘true north strong and free’ are to be truly celebrated, we must honour their meaning, not just their singing. We say this in a sincere and heartfelt attempt to be faithful to those who over the years have fought and sacrificed for our freedom by supporting, in the present day, the exercise of that freedom.”

Derek Dennis, a defensive lineman for the Roughriders, grew up in the Queens borough of New York City. Dennis was one of the Saskatchewan players who linked arms during the anthem, and said that it’s really important to show their support for what’s going on at home.

“We wanted to show solidarity and show that we understand what’s going on back home,” Dennis said . “We didn’t do this to disrespect the Canadian flag or its Armed Forces because this country has given us an opportunity to play football, the game we love. We just wanted to show our support for what’s going on.”

Many of the CFL’s players are from the United States, and even live there in the offseason. In a lot of cases, CFL players are only living in Canada for a few months out of the year.

Because they have to go back home, Saskatchewan quarterback and Detroit native Kevin Glenn said this is not an issue they can avoid.

"It was just a sign of unity that we're together,” Glenn said, via CBC News .

"Sometimes people don't understand that we have to go back to that kind of stuff. We're here for six months, but then we have to go back to that and live in that. That's why we did it.”

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Protests have been spreading like wildfire across the sports world — the WNBA, MLB, NBA, and NCAA have all seen athletes speak out on this issue both before and after Trump’s comments — and it isn’t likely that they will die down anytime soon.

And after the Roughriders made their stand in the CFL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more and more protests emerge across the league as the season goes on.

After all, Dennis said, they aren’t immune from what’s happening in the United States. It’s still an issue that effects them every day, and this is their way of fighting back.

“It shows that people understand the social issues that are going on right now,” Dennis said . “With Trump’s comments the other day, it showed us that we’re really alone as an ethnicity in America. It hurts."

Ryan Young