English football has been criticised for failing to pay tribute
The Premier League, English Football League and Football Association have been accused of “hypocrisy” for their failure to hold tributes to the 50 people killed in New Zealand’s mosque attacks last Friday.
There were minute’s silences held at Guinness Six Nations and Super League matches during the weekend, but no tributes were organised for matches in English football.
“There is no excuse, whenever something has happened, not even on the same scale, football has always come out and paid tribute,” said Yunus Lunat, former FA race equality board chair, to the BBC.
“It is double standards and hypocrisy. To hold a minute’s silence was the right thing to do. When it happens for the events, it has to happen across the board for every attack.”
The lack of tributes is in stark contrast to the tributes held across English football after the Paris attacks of November 2015.
After the attacks, in which 130 were killed, Premier League clubs wore black armbands as the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise”, was played before matches.
It would appear that the Premier League’s only acknowledgement of the attack is a tweet sent out on Friday, which read:
“The thoughts of everyone at the Premier League are with those affected by the terrible events in New Zealand.”
The thoughts of everyone at the Premier League are with those affected by the terrible events in New Zealand.
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 15, 2019
