Burnley condemn 'White Lives Matter' banner flown over Etihad Stadium during Manchester City clash

Matt Davies22 June 2020

Burnley have strongly condemned the flying of a banner which read 'White Lives Matter Burnley' over the Etihad Stadium during Monday night's Premier League clash against Manchester City.

The incident occurred almost immediately after both sets of players and match officials had taken a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement - a gesture seen across every game since the Premier League season resumed last week.

There has been no indication at this stage as to who organised the plane and banner, with Burnley releasing a statement to confirm that they would be working to issue lifetime bans from Turf Moor to those responsible.

"Burnley Football Club strongly condemns the actions of those responsible for the aircraft and offensive banner that flew over The Etihad Stadium on Monday evening," the club's statement read.

"We wish to make it clear that those responsible are not welcome at Turf Moor.

In Pictures | Manchester City vs Burnley | 22/06/2020

1/37

"This, in no way, represents what Burnley Football Club stands for and we will work fully with the authorities to identify those responsible and issue lifetime bans.

"The club has a proud record of working with all genders, religions and faiths through its award-winning Community scheme, and stands against racism of any kind.

"We are fully behind the Premier League’s Black Lives Matter initiative and, in line with all other Premier League games undertaken since Project Restart, our players and football staff willingly took the knee at kick-off at Manchester City.

A banner reading 'White Lives Matter Burnley' was flown over the Etihad on Monday night
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

"We apologise unreservedly to the Premier League, to Manchester City and to all those helping to promote Black Lives Matter."

Premier League players and clubs have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May.

The words 'Black Lives Matter' have replaced players' names on the back of shirts for the first 12 matches following the restart, while a Black Lives Matter logo will remain on shirts for the rest of the 2019-20 season.

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