Slavia’s 2019 racism incident proves Rangers and Kamara won’t see justice
Rangers’ 2-0 loss to Slavia Prague last night was marred by a controversial incident towards the end of the game with racism now at the forefront of footballing conversations once again.
Glen Kamara claims he was racially abused by Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela as Bongani Zungu claimed Kudela used the word ‘monkey’ as he covered his mouth to speak to the Rangers midfielder.
Of course, we haven’t heard the word being said but Kamara and Zungu seemed adamant that Kudela had used this shocking and offensive term and like Steven Gerrard, we stand with our players.
Kamara was absolutely incensed by whatever Kudela said and we know Kamara isn’t an aggressive person, he wouldn’t react like that without due cause.
In the very early hours of Friday morning, Slavia released a statement in which they defended their player.
The claim, among other things, that Kudela did not use a racist word and instead said ‘guy’, before going on to say that Kamara assaulted Kudela after the game.
So much of this ill-timed statement makes very little sense.
Why would Kudela feel the need to cover his mouth if he was just calling Kamara a ‘guy’?
Footballers give each other abuse on the pitch all the time so calling someone a not very offensive name does not require a player to cover their mouth.
Kudela wanted to make sure that no one knew what he said.
The statement also claims that Slavia called the police after the game but this is refuted by The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell.
This statement has so many similarities to a statement that was made by the club in 2019.
Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku claimed he was subject to racist abuse by the club’s fans after he scored in the Czech Republic during a Champions League clash with Slavia.
The chanting was on TV, everyone could hear it.
So what did the club do?
They released this statement, “We must reject that there has been racist chanting of the whole stadium. We analysed available footages, and none confirmed Mr Lukaku’s statement.
“The club has already apologised for individuals’ behaviour and it would be appropriate for Mr Lukaku to apologise for his words too.”
Not only did they not admit to the blindingly obvious they asked Lukaku, as a victim of racist abuse, to apologise for complaining about it.
This was just two years ago and it paints the picture of a classless club that condones racism from not only their own fans but their own players.
Guess what UEFA did as punishment for the racist chanting.
Nothing.
Unfortunately, Rangers can expect the same outcome of any UEFA investigation.
They won’t be able to prove that anything was said so it’s our word against theirs and they know that.
That’s why the statement came out.
They have their stories straight and are ready to defend their player so he can avoid a lengthy ban.
Frankly, it’s disgusting and it highlights the need for stricter punishments for those found guilty of racism on the football pitch.
We hope there is justice for Kamara but even being optimistic, it is hard to see an outcome where Slavia are properly punished.
In other Rangers news, Roofe has shared racist messages sent to him after the game.