Megan Rapinoe Ordered to Stand

U.S. Soccer issued a ruling that will insist that players stand during the performance of the National Anthem. To stress the importance of this new measure, the U.S. Soccer Federation didn’t attach any penalty to players violating the rule. The toothless edict will only apply to U.S. national team matches and not to professional women’s soccer leagues subsidized by U.S. soccer. Gross attendance figures show that about forty people attended a women’s soccer match nationwide in 2016. Mostly girlfriends of the players and process servers.

Megan Rapinoe caused a stir last year when she refused to stand for the Star Spangled Banner at both her professional league games and U.S. team games. Rapinoe noted at the time how her civil disobedience was inspired by Colin Kaepernick. That would set her apart from every kid hoping to be an NFL quarterback one day. Rapinoe expanded her kneeling protest into a broader contention over civil rights. Or the ones that matter, so lesbian rights.

While polls will show that most people favor this symbolic ruling, you’d think women’s soccer might take up larger issues, such as why nobody watches women’s soccer outside of every four years at the Olympics or World Cup. Potential solutions include replacing the women with men or replacing soccer with football. Nothing good comes from artificially denying natural selection. Watch CBS one evening for a good example.

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