Megan Rapinoe opts not to kneel during anthem on 9/11, stands arm-in-arm with teammates

Megan Rapinoe had said she planned on taking a knee during the national anthem as a protest against social injustice before the Seattle Reign’s home game against the Washington Spirit on Sunday.

But in the days leading up to the game, Rapinoe started feeling uneasy taking such an action on the 15^th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I don’t think I’ve thought as much as I have the past few days about all this stuff,” Rapinoe told the Seattle Times, adding, “I’ve struggled a lot with it being 9/11.”

In the end, the soccer star was able to make a statement without kneeling, as she and her teammates stood with their arms interlocked during the anthem. The Seattle Seahawks did the same thing before their NFL game against Miami earlier in the day.

“I wanted to, and just in general, be as effective as I can in this space and still exercise my right to protest and try to talk about what I really want to talk about, which has been very difficult," Rapinoe said. “A lot of people don’t want to talk about that. It’s all about the vehicle of the protest, or about what I’m doing, or about the military, about being American.”

Reign Coach Laura Harvey said the coaches knew of the players’ plan before the game.

“I think it shows they were respectful of everybody’s opinions, and their opinions on that, and what the flag means to people,” she said. “It’s about what people gave up to allow us to live the lives that we do.”

Rapinoe took a knee during the anthem a week earlier before Seattle’s game in Chicago to show solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who hadn’t stood for the anthem throughout the NFL’s preseason. Kaepernick has said he was protesting racial inequality and brutality by police.

Before the Reign's road game against Washington on Wednesday, Spirit owner Bill Lynch, an Air Force veteran, ordered the anthem to be played before the players emerged from the locker rooms in order to thwart Rapinoe’s intent to kneel.