League seeks compromise solution to anthem protests

By Frank Pingue

Oct 16 (Reuters) - The National Football League will try to find a way to move on from the controversial issue of players protesting during the national anthem before games when it meets with team owners in New York this week for a regularly-scheduled meeting.

The gesture by players who say they are protesting racial inequality and injustice has picked up steam ever since U.S. President Donald Trump criticised the league last month for allowing players to do so.

The issue is sure to command much attention on Tuesday and Wednesday when the world's top-grossing sports league meets with team owners, players and their union's leaders inside a Manhattan hotel.

For its part, the NFL has said it will not seek a mandate for players to stand during renditions of the "Star-Spangled Banner" but rather seek out some form of compromise.

"I anticipate a very productive presentation of things we can do to work together. Beyond that I don't anticipate anything else," NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters during a conference call on Monday.

In a memo sent to teams last week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league had been working with owners and players on a plan to offer an in-season platform to promote the work of players on these core issues. He also said the league wants players to stand for the anthem.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick stirred a polarising national debate in 2016 after refusing to stand during pre-game renditions of the U.S. national anthem, instead choosing to go down on one knee. Several players have since made similar gestures before games.

TRUMP CRITICISM

Trump waded into the issue last month at a political rally in Alabama, when he bemoaned what he saw as a decline in the sport and criticised players who refused to stand.

Two days after Trump's comments, NFL teams staged a show of solidarity with protesting players by kneeling, linking arms or staying off the field during the anthem before their respective games.

The president was asked about the protests on Monday and said the NFL should suspend any player who does not stand.

"When you go down and take a knee - you're sitting essentially - for our great national anthem, you're disrespecting our flag and you're disrespecting our country," Trump told reporters at an impromptu news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

"The NFL should've suspended some of these players for one game. Not fire them. Suspended them for one game and then if they did it again, it could be two games and then three games and then for the season. You wouldn't have people disrespecting our country right now." (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Christian Radnedge)