Wakefield Trinity star lashes 'crazy' comments and insists club are united against racism

Trinity - who lost 23-22 to Wigan Warriors two days ago - were the only team not to take a knee during last weekend’s round of fixtures, though several players at different clubs opted to stand.

Wakefield’s opponents did kneel before kick-off and Trinity forward Dave Fifita and Wigan’s Bevan French both huddled together with an aboriginal flag. In a message on social media, Lyne hit out at “crazy” comments and “people seemingly jumping on board thinking we wasn’t showing support to BLM [Black Lives Matter].

He said: “As a group we decided to show unity against racism in our own way, every person has a choice which should be respected!!!”

In a follow-up Tweet, Lyne denied the club’s black players were unhappy, adding: “We wanted to show unity and solidarity as a team against racism, which as a club we are.”

The club released a statement on social media before the match stating Trinity “fully supports all measures and messages devoted to improving equality, diversity and inclusion and we will confront racism, not only in rugby league, but in society”.

But it pledged: “How the players show that support before [Sunday’s] match is down to personal choice. They should not be vilified for that personal choice.”

The club’s statement stressed Trinity support the message black lives matter, but went on: “For us, this is about people, not politics.” Questioned about his players’ stance, coach Chris Chester said: “We had a good open chat during the week, led by the captain. We just felt as a group we needed some education on what the Black Lives Matter movement is. That’s the reason why we came up with what we did.

“I have been in dialogue with [equality campaigner] Alex Simmons quite a bit and we just felt we needed a bit more education on it and what it was about. Ultimately, [it was] led by the players and a decision that’s supported by myself as coach and [chief executive] Michael Carter and the rest of the board.”

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