NFL owners have issued new guidelines that will see teams fined if their players or staff do not show appropriate “respect” for the national anthem. According to the new rules, “a club will be fined by the league if its personnel are on the field and do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem”.

The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, said the league had been “sensitive” on the issue. “We want people to be respectful of the national anthem. We want people to stand,” Goodell said. “That’s all personnel, and to make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That’s something that we think we owe. We’ve been very sensitive on making sure that we give players choices, but we do believe that moment is an important moment and one that we are going to focus on.”

Dozens of NFL players have knelt during the anthem over the past two seasons in protest against social injustice in the United States. Critics of the protests, including Donald Trump, believed them to be unpatriotic. Trump called players who knelt “sons of bitches” last year.

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The league, perhaps aware of the strength of feeling among players, has included what it may hope is a workaround: players can choose to stay in the locker rooms during the anthem if they wish. Previous rules stated that all players should be on the field for the anthem but said only that they “should” stand during the Star-Spangled Banner.

Trump’s attack on protesting players prompted a backlash among players and owners, even ones known for their conservative views, and many players took a knee before the anthem following the president’s “son of a bitch” comments.

Goodell said he did not believe players who knelt were unpatriotic. “It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic,” wrote Goodell. “This is not and was never the case.”

The US vice-president, Mike Pence, made it clear how the Trump administration feels about the new policy. He tweeted the CNN story on the new rules with the hashtag “winning”.

Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) #Winning 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/aEJOCmB5lW

All 32 NFL owners approved the new rules at their annual pre-season meeting on Wednesday. However, there was disagreement on how to handle the issue. Some may have privately agreed with Trump, while others worried that the protests would hit revenues in a league that is incredibly popular in conservative parts of America. ESPN reports that some owners wanted all players to stand while others wanted to avoid the appearance of dictating players political views.

Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, who were two of the first players to protest at the start of the 2016 season, are currently unsigned. They have filed grievances against the league saying they have been blackballed due to their protest.

The NFL Players Association said it was not part of discussions on the new rules. “We were not consulted ahead of this meeting on any potential changes to the anthem policy,” it said in a statement. “If there are changes to the policy that put players in a position where they could be disciplined or fined, we are going to do what we always do: fight anything that encroaches on players’ rights to the end.

It went on: “The vote by NFL club CEOs today contradicts the statements made to our player leadership by commissioner Roger Goodell and the chairman of the NFL’s management council John Mara about the principles, values and patriotism of our league.”