Hackett slams UEFA amid Rangers allegations, claims banners and taking the knee doesn’t work
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers
Keith Hackett has slammed UEFA for their ineffective attempts to eradicate racism from football after there was an alleged case in the recent Rangers game against Slavia Prague.
Glen Kamara was allegedly racially abused by Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela in the late stages of last week’s clash with UEFA now investigating the matter.
Hackett insists UEFA must treat this case carefully with the integrity of the game at stake and slammed the recent efforts the organisation to tackle racism.
“I’ll be blunt. When somebody covers their mouth, there’s a suspicion isn’t there?” Hackett exclusively told Ibrox News.
“The suspicion that he said something out of turn. From my point of view and from the referee’s point of view, they deal on facts.
“What UEFA have got to do is to actually take this matter very seriously. At the moment there is a gap, there’s no good doing the banners and taking the knee and all of those things.
“It is, for the integrity of the game, that the players should feel safe and secure in a positive environment. These things are really appalling.
“UEFA cannot gloss over it.”
We completely agree with Hackett’s sentiment here.
For all the campaigns launched by football organisations, not just UEFA, nothing has really changed and last week proved that.
Rangers have stopped taking the knee as a show of support as it epitomises the useless attempts of football’s bosses to actually make a change.
Taking a knee may send a message to some degree but we are still seeing racism in football and that isn’t going to change in the current climate.
A very long ban is a good start in showing players that they can’t get away with racism on the football pitch.
We sincerely hope that Kudela is banned for a long time if he is indeed guilty of making a racist remark.
In other Rangers news, Charlie Adam has praised ‘phenomenal’ Gers ace who shows tremendous dedication.