Earlier this month, three football players from Divison III Albright were booted from the team after they failed to agree to a team decision to kneel during the coin toss, prior to the playing of the national anthem before a game. Now, Albright is offering them a chance to return to the football program.
Quarterback Gyree Durante was removed from the team after he decided to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem. He was removed from the program for what the school claimed was a definitive stance against the team vote to kneel before the national anthem during the coin toss and stand during the anthem. Two other players were then removed from the team for not fully kneeling during the coin toss when the team had voted to take a knee in a show of unity.
“What we understood to be shared agreement among players, student leaders, and coaches has not been adequately supported,” Albright president Dr. Jacquelyn Fetrow said in a released statement. “As a result, each of the students dismissed from the football team for failure to comply with the team’s shared agreement established for that day has been offered reinstatement to the team.”
One can’t help but wonder if the public reaction to this national anthem story painted a negative light on Albright as an institution to the point there was pressure for the university to reach out to offer reinstatement to the team or if this was a genuine reaction from the university’s leadership. Regardless of how it happened, here’s hoping this whole story helps to promote discussion about the issues and concerns raised by the ongoing national anthem demonstrations being seen throughout the sports world to make Albright and the surrounding region more aware of the social injustices that may be found in their community and beyond.
[USA Today/Photo: John Green]
