USWNT star Megan Rapinoe stands for national anthem for first time since reversal of US Soccer's controversial policy
- Megan Rapinoe stood for the national anthem alongside her USWNT teammates Wednesday night.
- It's the first time the pink-haired star hasn't knelt since USSF reversed its controversial policy.
- After Sunday's match, defender Crystal Dunn explained why the team was "prepared to stand moving forward' after regularly kneeling.
Megan Rapinoe stood for the national anthem.
Ahead of the US Women's National Team's final SheBelieves Cup match against Argentina Wednesday evening, the outspoken striker did not kneel during the pregame playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." It's the first time Rapinoe did not use the opportunity to protest police brutality since the US Soccer Federation repealed its controversial ban on kneeling.
Rapinoe's actions Wednesday night were consistent with those of her teammates and with defender Crystal Dunn's surprising pronouncement Sunday that the USWNT was "prepared to stand moving forward' after the majority of players regularly knelt in recent months.
Still, there were questions as to whether the pink-haired star would fall in line. She had long knelt when the national anthem played before her matches - both for club and for - and she's been an outspoken ally to Colin Kaepernick ever since the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback began his much-discussed protest of police brutality against Black and brown Americans back in 2016.
Shortly after that, Rapinoe became the first white professional athlete to kneel with Kaepernick in solidarity, and it cost her greatly. US Soccer and then-head coach Jill Ellis subtly punished their star for subverting the status quo in what was, at the time, a controversial fashion.
The federation published a statement indirectly condemning Rapinoe's behavior when she knelt, and Ellis took her out of the starting lineup for the next USWNT game. For the two matches after that, she told Rapinoe not to dress. Soon enough, Ellis called to inform Rapinoe that she wouldn't be invited to train with the team ahead of the SheBelieves Cup and that she wouldn't be competing in the annual tournament, either.
In March of 2017, US Soccer formally banned national team players from kneeling during the anthem - a policy the governing body has since apologized for and walked back. Not until later that year did the 2019 World Cup Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner rejoin the USWNT, and head coach Jill Ellis "never said a word about freezing me out," Rapinoe wrote in her memoir. "No conversation was had."
Now, Rapinoe and her teammates appear ready to take their efforts "behind the scenes" as they work to combat systemic racism.
"We're all proud that we are doing the work behind the scenes," Dunn said after the USWNT's win over Brazil Sunday. "And it was just a game that we felt we were ready to move into the next phase and just continuously fight for change."