BERLIN, Germany- Players of German club Hertha Berlin kneeled before their Bundesliga match against Schalke 04 on Saturday in solidarity with the National Football League players in the United States reports EuroSport.com

 “Berlin is colourful,” an Olympic stadium announcer said before the game. “Hertha stands for diversity and is against violence. For this reason, we are joining with the protest of fellow American athletes to take a stand against discrimination.

“For a tolerant Berlin, now and forever.”

The gesture is intended to call attention to what protesting NFL players see as a pattern of racism in the treatment of African-Americans by U.S. police, the report said.

 

 

The issue has been made more significant when U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that players who did not stand during the anthem should be fired.

Hertha BSC was established in 1892, and was a founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. The team won the German championship in 1930 and 1931. Since 1963, Hertha’s stadium has been the Olympiastadion. The club is known as Die Alte Dame in German, which translates to “The Old Lady”. In 2002, the sports activities of the professional, amateur, and under-19 teams were separated into Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA according to Wikipedia.