Colin Kaepernick: NFL Black Lives Matter protests recall rebellious spirit of 1960s sporting greats

To his most fervent supporters Kaepernick is a modern Muhammad Ali.

His detractors have questioned his patriotism and accused him of insulting those who died for America.

On the opening day of the regular season last week 20 million people watched live on television to see what he would do.

Kaepernick again refused to stand, this time going down on one knee during the pre-game anthem. His team-mate Eric Reid knelt with him.

Two other 49ers, Antoine Bethea and Eli Harold, stood with their gloved fists raised in Black Power salutes. Across the pitch two members of the opposing Los Angeles Rams team, Robert Quinn and Kenny Britt, made the same salute.

After the game, in the dressing room, Kaepernick listed the names of black people who have died in police custody over the past few years.

"I can't see another Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Eric Garner," he said. "At what point do we take a stand and, as a people, say this isn't right? You [the police] have a badge and you're supposed to be protecting us, not murdering us."

'Stand for the anthem or be shot'

At American Football games across the country the reaction has been passionate on both sides.

Before a high-school game in Alabama a Baptist pastor was greeted by wild cheers as he suggested supporters of Kaepernick should be shot.

Allen Joyner reportedly told the crowd: "If you don’t want to stand for the national anthem you can line up over there by the fence and let our military personnel take a few shots at you."

Kate Upton, the supermodel, also emerged as an unlikely leading voice in the anti-Kaepernick camp, calling the kneeling protests "horrific".

"This is unacceptable. You should be proud to be an American," she said on social media.

"It's a disgrace to those people who have served and currently serve our country. We live in the most special place in the world and should be thankful."

A handful of players with major teams including the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tennessee Titans have so far copied Kaepernick's protest by kneeling or raising their fists.

By contrast, in the capital, the Washington Redskins made a show of patriotism.

Ahead of a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers every Redskins player joined soldiers unfurling a 100-yard long Stars and Stripes flag.

In the stands, Jay Curtis, 45, an American football fan, said: "If Kaepernick walked through a military hospital with people, black and white, missing limbs, then he'd soon realise he should stand up for the anthem.

"The whole reason you respect the anthem, and the flag, is because people fought and died for them. They stand for important things."

He added: "If you don't have a lot of talent, like Kaepernick, I guess you have to do something to sell your shirts."

Despite being on the bench Kaepernick's shirts have become the biggest seller of any American football player. He is donating the money to charity.

Cleveland Billy Lucas IV, 37, a black fan at the Redskins game, backed Kaepernick.

He said: "I have military service members in my family. But the last few months have been awful, people being executed by police sworn to protect us. It's an outrage. It's just not right, man."

Eric Olsen, 23, a white Redskins fan, added: "I sympathise with Kaepernick 100 per cent. Of course this is about race. If it was a white quarterback taking a knee then everyone would be doing it."

A racist anthem?

The protests also put the national anthem in the spotlight, reigniting suggestions that the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner are racist.

The words come from a poem, 'The Defence of Fort McHenry', written by Francis Scott Key about a British attack during the War of 1812.

Key's little-known third stanza includes the lines: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave."

It refers to former slaves who had joined the British to fight for their freedom.

Jason Johnson, an associate professor at Morgan State University, said: "It’s clearly racist."

'Athletes will increasingly be activists'

The protests spell trouble for America's most valuable sport, which has 32 teams valued at $63 billion by Forbes.

Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, American football's presiding body, said: "We believe very strongly in patriotism in the NFL. I personally believe very strongly in that."

But he can expect the protests to spread. For much of its history American football was a majority white sport. Now, 68 per cent of the players are black and they have perhaps the biggest megaphone in America.

Around 80 million people watch NFL games each week. Even Kaepernick, a back-up player, earns $11 million a season and is a household name.

Robert Boland, a sports administration expert at Ohio University, said: "We're entering an era where athletes are increasingly going to be activists. They have absolutely huge platforms which they are now using through social media.

"The NFL is the most watched entertainment production in the United States. It's the top-rated TV show."

'It's like going back in time'

For decades the fear of losing lucrative sponsorship deals, and a place in the team, had kept a lid on dressing room activism.

The attitude among black sportsmen in America was summed up in a quote attributed to Michael Jordan, the most famous basketball player ever.

Asked why he wasn't more politically active, Jordan reputedly said: "Republicans buy sneakers, too."

Jim Brown, 80, a legendary black American football player and civil rights campaigner in the 1960s, said that was changing.

He said: "In my day we were not allowed to room with a Caucasian player. The young men of my day, like Muhammad Ali, stepped up. Then, for many years they didn't step up.

"But the young men of today are. Fifty years later we have a young man [Kaepernick] saying something. For me, it's like going back in time."

John Carlos, one of the two American athletes who gave the Black Power salute on the medal podium in an iconic protest at the 1968 Olympic Games, also backed Kaepernick.

Carlos, 71, said: "It''s the same way we did it 48 years ago, giving America shock treatment. What you see today is the fruit of our labour. This is a movement, this is not a moment."