Bluefield College forfeited a men’s basketball game Thursday after the NAIA school suspended several players for kneeling during the national anthems preceding the past two months’ games. School president David Olive revealed that he had told the team’s players to stop kneeling before matches.
When the players declined, Olive made the decision to suspend the players who chose to kneel, resulting in the team’s game against Reinhardt University being forfeited.
“The basis for my decision stemmed from my own realization of how some in our country experience kneeling, and I didn’t think that some of our college alumni, friends and donors would see kneeling during the national anthem in a positive way, Olive said in a statement.
Olive spoke to players, coaches and the school’s athletic director, Tonia Walker, about kneeling during the national anthem. Even after those discussions, he still made the decision to suspend the players for their actions.
Olive was initially unaware that players were kneeling during the national anthem. However, on February 1, he became aware that players had knelt in the previous three games, two of which were underway. After hearing about the recent kneeling, Olive spoke to head coach Richard Morgan and told him that kneeling during the national anthem would not be tolerated.
After Olive made his statement clear to the team, the Bluefield College players chose to ignore Olive’s order. On February 4, Morgan made the decision to keep his team in the locker room during the national anthem in an effort to avoid backlash.
“I went on to tell them that their intended message to raise awareness of racial injustices was watered down or completely lost, as some saw their kneeling act as disrespectful to the flag, our country and our veterans,” Olive said in the statement. “In my opinion their message was not heard.”
The team recently knelt before Tuesday’s game against Tennessee Wesleyan. After the game, Olive told Morgan that the players would face “consequences.”