Crystal Palace distance themselves from the official Black Lives Matter campaign

Selhurst Park has displayed Black Lives Matter banners during the Premier League restart.
PA

Crystal Palace have moved to distance themselves from the official Black Lives Matter campaign as controversy over the Premier League's support for the movement continues.

The politicisation of the official BLM UK campaign – which has called for the overthrow of capitalism and an end to free trade with Israel – has left players and clubs reeling, and CEO Richard Masters was forced to defend the Premier League's position at a grilling by MPs on Tuesday.

Masters insisted the League remains apolitical and said BLM was a "unique...moral cause", while the League has released a statement on behalf of players, clubs and itself condemning "groups that seek to hijack popular causes and campaigns to promote their own political views".

On Thursday morning, Palace said in a statement a statement: "As people will have seen from our first home game, we have placed banners over our seated areas at Selhurst Park that read: BLACK LIVES MATTER.

"We stand proudly alongside members of the BAME community, our players and employees, and behind the ideals and ethos of “black lives matter”. However, we would like to make clear that we do not endorse any pressure group or body that carries the same term in its name, and we strongly believe that organisations should not use this important force for change and positivity to push their own political agendas."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in