‘We are more than athletes.’ UK football calls off practice to protest injustices.
The University of Kentucky football team did not practice as scheduled Thursday in an effort to demonstrate support for ongoing protests against social injustice, following the precedent of multiple pro sports franchises that did so this week.
Thursday’s was supposed to be UK’s third practice this week and its sixth of fall camp, which began last week following several weeks of voluntary conditioning work permitted earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made as players began showing up at the facility Thursday afternoon.
“We met as a unity council, which is just a group of leaders throughout the team that players have anointed, and we really just talked about the issue,” Josh Paschal, a junior defensive end, said during a Zoom teleconference Thursday. “We had some players that felt like this was necessary to make this decision, spread awareness and make that awareness into action. With that (it) came to one decision. We all believe this is the right thing.”
Football teams at Boston College and South Florida also canceled practices Thursday and instead met in small groups to discuss current events. Elsewhere in the Southeastern Conference, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt changed Saturday’s scheduled practice time so players can attend a march scheduled in Knoxville later that day. Mississippi State later Thursday canceled its practice.
Kentucky’s next practice is scheduled for Saturday and expected to take place.
Paschal and offensive lineman Luke Fortner, who also spoke Thursday, said that they would like to begin having dialogue with the Lexington police force and want to re-focus the team’s community service efforts toward educating people about systemic racism and other social injustices. Encouraging others to vote, too, will be emphasized.
“It’s not a one-sided issue, there’s a side to every single story and we understand that,” Fortner said. “We are doing what it takes to get everyone together and discuss that. We want our tangible solution right now to be to educate our youth, because that’s where it all starts.”
The Milwaukee Bucks initiated a wave of professional sports boycotts on Wednesday prior to tip-off of a 4 p.m. playoff game scheduled against the Orlando Magic. Two other NBA playoff games were subsequently postponed Wednesday, as well as several Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer competitions. At least a half-dozen National Football League teams did not practice as scheduled Thursday.
The NBA postponed its two previously scheduled Thursday playoff games but is reportedly expected to resume play at some point during the weekend.
Some sports fans and media have decried player protests. Paschal said comments like “stick to sports” and “shut up and dribble,” which are frequently lobbed in the direction of athletes who speak up about current events, don’t make sense to him.
“It hurts seeing fans who put us down, who see us as just athletes,” Paschal said. “We are more than athletes. ... When we leave this facility, we want our fans to know that we can have opinions that may not be the same as theirs, but we want them to see us as human. Because we are human, and we are all human. I respect their opinions and they should respect ours as well.
“Even with this whole issue right now, I feel like this is a human rights issue. This is not a political issue or anything like that. I believe that we should all be united in this fight against police brutality.”
UK’s players did not name specific instances of known police violence, but other teams this week have cited ongoing demonstrations against social injustice and police brutality in deciding to protest games and other scheduled activities. Breonna Taylor, a woman whose killing at the hands of Louisville police is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the office of Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron, is a central figure at the heart of protests.
The police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Wisconsin man who was hospitalized this week after an encounter ended in him being struck with seven bullets, has renewed conversations within the sports world about police brutality.
Demonstrations across the U.S. began en masse in late May following the Minneapolis death of George Floyd during an arrest.
Many Kentucky football coaches and players marched in support of Black Lives Matter in downtown Lexington in early July.
“I can’t feel their pain,” head coach Mark Stoops said in July. “I’m a white person, obviously, and what young black people go through, I feel for ‘em, and I just wanted to listen to and be there for ’em. I could just tell that it was a very difficult time for a lot of people, and it still is. ... Everybody has to get off the sideline, get in the game and be part of the solution. And that’s just a fact. That’s the way it is. Black lives matter, and they matter to me a great deal.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 6:20 PM.
