Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Sam Davies & Millwall FC

Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.

HIT – SAM DAVIES INITIATIVES-CŒUR

When you compete in sport at the highest level, winning is all that matters.

And if you can’t win, give your best to extract every last drop of ability to give the best account of yourself.

But sailor Sam Davies sees an even bigger picture despite having to quit the Vendée Globe around-the-world race when her boat was seriously damaged last week.

Davies arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, at the weekend, to see if her Initiatives-Cœur boat could be repaired after it suffered serious damage to its keel.

“You really have to inspect everything. I think that is also the magic of the Vendée Globe: the race stops but I hope the adventure does not end here,” said Davies.

“I've always said my mission is to sail around the world on this boat. For me, but also for Initiatives-Cœur, to support cardiac surgery for the kids. If I can fix the boat and go, I'm motivated to do it.

“This is the positive side of the story, I still have a mast, I still have my keel! I have all the pieces, I have a great team. It will probably take time, it's a big job but I'm very positive to give it a go.

“I am also an adventurer, passionate about the sea and the oceans, and I want to save children with Initiatives-Cœur.”

The Initiatives-Cœur team combines sport with humanitarian work, supporting Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, which enables children suffering from heart problems from underprivileged countries to come to France where they are hosted by a family and receive treatment.

Every time someone likes the Initiatives Cœur Facebook or Instagram page, or shares a Facebook post, Initiatives Cœur’s partners donate €1 to the cause, with €12,000 required to save each child.

To support the charity, please, visit their Facebook or Instagram pages.

MISS – MILLWALL FC

The return of football after the initial lockdown in England coincided with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the United States.

All matches which took place saw players taking the knee in solidarity against racism in football and throughout society in general.

Taking the knee, you may recall, first came to prominence when NFL and 49ers star Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the US national anthem in protest of police brutality.

This week saw a change of lockdown regulations and fans finally allowed back into some grounds in limited numbers and unfortunately Millwall fans, who have been accused of racism in the past, booed as both their players and those of opponents Derby County, took the knee before their game at The Den.

A club with Millwall’s reputation must have anticipated that something like this could happen.

Their communications team and directors should have prepared a statement in advance so that they could publicly comment soon after the game, if something like this were to happen.

They had, after all, released a statement from the players BEFORE the game which stated that: “As a squad we are fully supportive of the entire football family’s efforts in ridding the sport, and society generally, of all forms of discrimination. The gesture of ‘taking the knee’ before matches provides an opportunity for us to do exactly that and continues to allow all those playing to publicly showcase their support – on behalf of the whole squad – for the fight against discrimination.”

Yet after the game, for it to take 18 hours or more before a statement was finally posted by the club completely undermines Millwall’s credibility.

It raises questions about how seriously they took the situation; whether they were concerned they may alienate those who booed; or whether they just lacked the foresight and understanding of the potential for booing to occur and did not expect the outrage to be quite so vociferous.

Whatever the reasons, Millwall should have made a statement within minutes of the final whistle – and it is a poor reflection on them that it was left to defender Mahlon Romeo to have to comment on the club’s behalf.

“Today's game, to me now, has become irrelevant,” he said.

“The fans who have been let in today have personally disrespected not just me but the football club. And what the football club and the community stand for. What they've done is booed and condemned a peaceful gesture which was put in place to highlight, combat and stop any discriminatory behaviour and racism. That's it – that's all that gesture is.

“But in society there is a problem - and that problem is racism. And the fans have chosen to boo that, which for the life of me I can't understand. It has offended me and everyone who works for this club - the players and the staff.”

The Football Association and EFL made statements with the FA saying that it “supports all players and staff who wish to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities.”

Kick It Out, who fight racism and prejudice in football, rapidly issued a statement saying: “What this demonstrates is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimination. We applaud the players for taking a stand and defying the hate shown today.”

The Millwall FC statement, when it was finally published on Sunday lunchtime, was also telling, avoiding the use of the words “racism”, “race” or “black.”

“The club has worked tirelessly in recent months to prepare for the return of supporters and what should have been a positive and exciting occasion was completely overshadowed, much to the immense disappointment and upset of those who have contributed to those efforts.

“The club will not allow their fine work to be in vain. The players are continuing to use the biggest platform they have to support the drive for change, not just in football but in society generally.

“There is much work to be done and at Millwall everyone is committed to doing all that is possible, both individually and collectively, to be a force for good and to ensure that the club remains at the forefront of football’s anti-discrimination efforts.”

The statement should have gone further and been unequivocal in its condemnation of the bad fan behaviour, vowing to undertake a thorough review of CCTV footage and banning any fans seen to have been booing the pre-match ritual and undertaking greater initiatives to eliminate racism from the club.

It speaks volumes that one of its most celebrated fans, Danny Baker, was minded to comment on Twitter that: “Makes your skin crawl. How come this clump of Neanderthals get tickets?”