Rocky Bleier on Anthem Kneelers: ‘You Are Working That Day, This Is Not a Platform for Protest’

Rocky Bleier won four Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers after earning a Purple Heart and rushed for nearly 4,000 yards in the NFL after getting shot in the leg in Vietnam.

The Bronze Star recipient offers a straightforward solution to the sideline protests of the national anthem that brought the NFL plummeting ratings and empty stadium seats.

“It’s very simply this: This is a workplace, you are at the stadium, you are working that day, this is not a platform for protest,” Bleier explained in an interview with Yahoo Sports. “The American people, they can’t go to their workplace and start to protest about whatever may be happening in their life. That wouldn’t be allowed and that shouldn’t be allowed in the NFL.”

Bleier blames the players for politicizing the gridiron and the owners for a lack of leadership.

“It’s not a violation of the First Amendment at all,” he says of forbidding the mixture of pigskins and politics. “You have off days, you can do it outside of the stadium or on other platforms, but not the gameday platform. It’s a very simple question and people are making it more complex than it really is.”

In addition to suffering a bullet wound in Vietnam after his rookie season, Bleier lost part of his foot and took shrapnel in the leg. Doctors proclaimed his football career done. But an inspiring note from his team’s owner provided hope. “Rock — the team’s not doing well,” the note read. “We need you. Art Rooney.”

After surgeries and efforts to get back into game shape, Bleier returned to the playing field for the 1971 season. Eventually, the Steelers, with Bleier spelling and supplementing Franco Harris in the backfield, did quite well. They won Super Bowls after the 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979 seasons.

The Vietnam veteran wants owners to step up for the game the way Rooney did for him and for the NFL to take action to stop the politicization of football to move on from the unhappy episode.

“You can’t allow it to continue to drag on,” Bleier told Yahoo Sports. “Otherwise, it will be like an open sore that heals and if you peel off the scab again and it will continuously be there.”