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Premier League CEO Richard Masters supports 'Black Lives Matter' on team jerseys

Premier League CEO Richard Masters supports 'Black Lives Matter' on team jerseys

Premier League chief pleads for rethink of stadium fan ban

Premier League's chief executive Richard Masters has said that he supports the move to have slogan 'Black Lives Matter' on player's shirts for at least this week's games as it represented an ethical stance rather than a political one.

The much-awaited Premier League restart on Wednesday and will witness Manchester City hosting Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. The blockbuster clash will be played behind closed doors but it won’t matter to the football fanatics much as they will be seeing Premier League coming back on track following a prolonged break due to COVID-19.

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"I support them in using their platforms to push good causes. The messages you are going to see coming through the Premier League matches in relation to thanking the NHS, with the 'Heart NHS' logo on the front of shirts and also the anti-discrimination messages coming forward, are issues that all players feel," Masters told Sky Sports on Tuesday.

"I think it is a good thing that players are using their voices to make what I think are ethical value judgements rather than political statements. They are supposed to be unifying messages, and we support them and so do the clubs," he added.

Masters said that concrete policies must be introduced to follow up Black Lives Matter movement, however, he said that the League has no plans to introduce a US-style rule to ensure members of minorities are interviewed for any vacant coaching positions.

"Whatever the campaign messages might be, the promotion as it were, there needs to be significant policies and programmes behind it that are making a difference. There is a strong and long-standing commitment from the Premier League and all our clubs to anti-discrimination. We are going to continue to listen to players," he said.