Family tragedy behind Bevan French's flag gesture

French united with Wakefield prop David Fifita and draped the Australian Aboriginal flag over their backs when they took the knee ahead of the Headingley match.

The 24-year-old says his family has suffered the heartache of a relative dying while in police custody and wanted to shine a light on the issue which is close to his heart.

Support for the Black Lives Matter movement swelled after the shocking death of George Floyd while under arrest in America.

French said: "Dave asked me if I wanted to kneel with the flag and I was all for it.

“I don’t think too many people here know about the gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous people back in Australia.

“I’m against all racism but the deaths in custody... it’s affected me personally and Dave as well, I think.

“It happened to one of our family members, three or four years ago, and we’re still fighting that.

“So that issue, especially, is close to me. It was a good moment for us, I didn’t know what reaction it would get, but we gained a lot of support from it.”

French is nursing a back injury which may rule him out of Saturday’s match against Leeds.