Millwall must do better than Gary Rowett’s failure to condemn booing of taking a knee

Gary Rowett believes that “we need the authorities to help clubs out and find a better way to unify people” than taking the knee. The Millwall manager made this point after supporters booed Fulham players who knelt before his team’s 2-1 defeat at the Den on Tuesday.

Rowett needs to understand a simple point: kneeling is not meant to bring people together. It is meant to separate the racists from those who believe in equality. It is meant to highlight the obscenity of a status quo where skin colour gives groups of people a massive disadvantage. It is a simple, harmless gesture that says “we can be better than this.”

There is absolutely no reason to be offended by kneeling. The rationale behind it is simple: it opposes race-based inequality. The only thing it demands of anyone is to stop being a bigot.

Millwall are often treated as a special case. The club’s supporters have an outsider status that is unique in English football. Their fearsome reputation as uber-hooligans is overlaid by a cartoon contrarianism. “No one likes us,” they sing – and they like it like that.

The ruggedness of the docklands fanbase has never been in doubt. The authenticity of their standing as apex terrace troublecausers is questionable. The founding myth of Millwall’s notoriety was a 1977 Panorama documentary that became one of the seminal moments in hooligan legend. The irony is that the BBC did not single out the south London outfit. They were one of a handful of teams approached to be the subject of the investigation. Millwall were the only club foolish enough to agree to allowing cameras in and around the ground. Their fate, and image, was sealed then. The consequences have echoed down the decades.

As a club, Millwall have long worked hard to improve the disadvantaged, multicultural community that surrounds the Den. Many supporters, too, will be dismayed by the manager’s intervention into the culture war that football has found itself dragged into. There is an argument that given Millwall’s background – and the affectations of some of their followers – that events at the Den should be ignored. But that is one of the problems. Millwall fans have an inflated significance in the sport because they act as a rallying point for some of the most pathetic specimens in the game’s netherworld. They embolden a minority of supporters of other clubs to emulate their behaviour. They legitimise stupidity.

Their manager’s refusal to condemn the booing is appalling. Rowett asks for a better way of confronting prejudice but what could have more impact than some of the most famous and admired celebrities in the country showing their disdain for racism on an almost daily basis? Across Britain and the world, children are seeing their heroes take the knee and there is a clear message there.

After the match, Rowett instead said: “Football is a great spectacle, we’re all privileged to be part of it.” Did the Millwall manager think for a moment how that sounded? The object of his ire, the people who he should have been telling to shut up and sit down, are the boo boys and girls of the Den. He would do well to reflect on the idea of privilege.

Millwall are important. They are a focal point for a certain kind of mindset and their history gives them an influence that goes beyond what might be expected of a middling tier-two club. What goes on in the stands is bad enough and it is a great shame for the manager to miss such a chance to intervene.

Rowett needs to be better. Millwall need to be better.