Trump backs NFL decision on anthem

NFL players have reacted angrily to US President Donald Trump welcoming the league's decision to fine teams if players on the field refuse to stand for the national anthem.

They were especially upset about the president's comment that if they don't want to stand maybe they shouldn't be in the country.

Some NFL players knelt during the anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed black men, provoking a controversy as Trump criticised the players for being unpatriotic and repeatedly demanded an end to such protests last year.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Wednesday a new policy that will fine teams if players on the field fail to stand during the Star-Spangled Banner.

Players who choose not to stand may remain in the locker room until after the anthem is finished.

But Trump told Fox News in an interview on Thursday: "I think that's good. I don't think people should be staying in locker rooms but still I think it's good.

"You have to stand, proudly, for the national anthem. Or you shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there, maybe you shouldn't be in the country," he said.

Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who has knelt during the anthem before several games, called Trump's words "disgusting."

"I say disgusting because of our First Amendment rights,'' he said.

"We've got freedom of speech, right? Freedom to protest? Just because somebody chooses to protest, now we've got to be kicked out of the country? That's not how things should work, in my opinion.

"Everybody is not going to agree on things, everybody is not going to have the same opinion on things, so just because somebody disagrees on something, an issue, with something that's going on in this country, that they should pack up and leave - that's absurd, in my opinion.''

Seattle Seahawks wideout Doug Baldwin also had a strong reaction to the president's comments.

"He's an idiot," Baldwin said of Trump. "Plain and simple.

"For him to say that anyone who doesn't follow his viewpoints or his constituents' viewpoints should be kicked out of the country, it's not very empathetic, it's not very American-like, actually to me.

"It's kind of ironic to me that the president of the United States is contradicting what our country is really built on."