<P> The protest had supporters outside the U.S. as well: In an October 2017 match against Schalke 04, players and staff of German football club Hertha BSC took the knee in solidarity . Herta BSC has a few American players on their roster . </P> <P> On September 7, 2016, three volleyball players from West Virginia Tech knelt during the national anthem . </P> <P> On October 1, at East Carolina University, about 19 members of the band kneeled, while about another two held the American flag during the national anthem at the beginning of the football game against the University of Central Florida . There have been almost no such incidents involving college football players, for the simple reason that college players and coaches are typically in the locker room when the anthem is played . There has been at least one exception to the rule, however . During a September 2016 away game at Northwestern, where players are traditionally on the field during the anthem, three Nebraska players knelt on the sideline . The NCAA football rulebook does not address the issue of pregame ceremonies (patriotic or otherwise) at all, except to say that team captains must be present for a coin toss three minutes before the first - half kickoff . </P> <P> College of the Ozarks president Jerry Davis announced in September 2017 that his college's teams would refuse to play any team whose players knelt during the anthem . In response, the NAIA chose to move its Division II men's basketball champion game away from College of the Ozarks' Keeter Gymnasium (where the championship game had been held since 2000) to Sanford Pentagon, South Dakota . </P>

When did the national anthem start playing at nfl