Show Racism... no card?

As I write this article Arsenal are currently beating Slavia Prague 3-0 in the 2nd leg of their QF match. This result fills me, and I'm sure the Rangers family, with joy.

Yesterday UEFA announced that they had concluded their investigations into the incidents that took place during and after the match between Rangers and Slavia Prague at Ibrox on the 18th March 2021.  I briefly touched on this game and the incidents from the game in my article From Red Imps to Racism but following yesterday's announcement I felt it required a longer discussion.

Rangers striker Kemar Roofe has been banned for 4 games for "seriously assaulting another player" following his red card for a challenge that saw him kick Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar in the face. A tackle that no Rangers fan would defend, but a ban that on the surface seems excessive considering there was clearly no intent to injure the player, as stupid and deserving the red card that the challenge was. However, UEFA no longer considers a lack of intent and focus on the outcome of the challenge.

Rangers were also fined 9,000 Euros for "improper conduct". This fine is an automatic fine for 5 or more bookings and given we were issued with 5 yellow cards and 2 reds in the match this was a guaranteed fine and I don't think there will be much argument from that.

The more shocking outcome of the investigations though was that Ondrej Kudela was suspended 10 games for any UEFA competitive matches for racially abusing Glen Kamara and that Glen Kamara was suspended 3 UEFA club competitive matches for assaulting Ondrej Kudela. 

This is surprising for a number of reasons. The first reason is that I, along with many, expected UEFA to find their investigation inconclusive and try to sweep the whole incident under the carpet, so for them to find Kudela guilty comes as a shock. The second reason that it is surprising is that if you have found this man guilty of racially abusing a fellow professional footballer how on earth can a 10 game ban be the punishment? As the ban includes Euro 2020 games he could be back playing European football in the qualifiers for the Champions League next season... The last, and most surprising for me is that after finding Kudela guilty of racially abusing Glen Kamara, UEFA saw fit to hand Kamara a 3 game ban, originally 5 games, for retaliating to this. 

It's a sad state of affairs that myself and the footballing world doubted that UEFA would do anything about the situation at all. That shows how much faith we, as fans, have in the ruling bodies and their attempts to eradicate racism from the game. Connor Goldson said it himself in the press conference after the game, they're more interested in making sure that sponsorship isn't impacted than worrying about matters like racism.

The fact that UEFA found Kudla guilty and they only gave him the minimum suspension open to them of 10 games shows exactly how little they actually care about eradicating this issue. For comparison Kieran Trippier was given a 12 game suspension for telling his friends he was going to Atletico Madrid before he had officially signed as it could have led to betting... 12 games for telling your mate you're going to a team, 10 games for dehumanising a fellow professional.

Trippier is not the only player to have received a much larger suspension for a lesser crime, Kolo Toure was suspended 6 months for taking his wife's water tablets, Rio Ferdinand was suspended 8 months for missing a drugs test, not even failing it and Nicolas Anelka was suspended 18 matches by France for falling out with the coaches.

I know all these suspensions weren't handed out by UEFA but the fact they are considered more serious breaches than walking up to a guy, in the middle of a game, placing your hand over your mouth, and calling him a "F***ing Monkey" is downright abhorrent. This was no spur-of-the-moment thing by Kudela either. He had to walk some distance to target Kamara, and the fact he picked mild-mannered, quiet Kamara over the more vocal and physically imposing Goldson or Aribo shows it was a pre-meditated and targeted action.

The aftermath of this incident saw Kudela and his club deny, deflect and muddy the waters of the incident for weeks. The fact that he showed no remorse alone should have seen his suspension increased, but the way they went about it, even including Kudela in videos condemning racism was crass and sickening. How Slavia hasn't been punished, and if anything spared a large majority of Kudela's punishment, is beyond a joke.

Now personally I'm quite happy that the ban covers the Czech Republics' games at Euro 2020. It means that Kudela's actions have likely caused him to miss representing his country at a major finals tournament. As they've failed to qualify for a World Cup since 2006 and they have already lost one game against Wales in their qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and are still to face Belgium twice, it hopefully means that was his last chance with him being 34.

The last point for me is the most bizarre. UEFA actually tried to ban Kamara for 5 games for assaulting Kudela after the match. What were they expecting him to do? The honest answer is they probably expected him to accept it with grace and move on because UEFA is run by rich, old, white guys who have never had to experience racism. Thankfully Kamara's lawyer was able to talk it down to 3 games but even that is laughable due to the fact it means should Rangers draw Slavia in their 2nd qualifying game Kudela could be eligible to play by then and Kamara would still be suspended.

Rangers have rightfully appealed the bans, and hopefully, with some luck, UEFA will see some sense, but I won't be holding my breath. The whole outcome looks to be a move of appeasement, hoping that if they show both sides they've punished the other everyone will move on and leave them alone. UEFA has been found completely lacking in strong leadership with morals and a backbone with this outcome.

Thankfully though the footballing world, apart from of course Slavia fans, celtic fans, and randomly West Ham fans (because Slavia sold them a good player) have all shown their support for Glen Kamara and their utter disgust at UEFA and Slavia for how this has been handled. 

I also feel sorry for Gareth Bale in all of this, Kudela showed his true colours further in the aforementioned Wales vs. the Czech Republic game when he obviously took exception to the Welsh team wearing "show racism the red card" t-shirts and he attacked poor Gareth's elbow with his face late in the game and then to also add to his cunning, snake-like character he used that as an excuse not to attend London for last weeks game against Arsenal, knowing the police were keen to discuss the Kamara incident with him.

As it stands Police Scotland have submitted their investigations into both incidents to the Procurator Fiscal, who will now decide if there are charges for either Kudela or Kamara to face. Hopefully justice prevails and the Procurator Fiscal sees sense in the whole situation.

One positive to take from all of this though is that the club has backed and stood by Glen Kamara 100% throughout and has handled things in a caring, professional, and empathetic manner. Rangers have spent a good number of years trying to improve the game through their Everyone, Anyone campaign and have taken it a step further since this incident.

With Roofe and Kamara both receiving racial abuse through social media, the club has taken a leadership role in challenging social network platforms to take some responsibility in the fight against racism. Hopefully, this positive action will see more clubs and celebrities take action too and force social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram start to take this kind of abuse seriously.

Overall though this whole incident has shown that we still have a very long way to go in football, and in life, to improve. The fact that it's 2021 and we're still having to discuss racism at such a level, and what feels like an increasing frequency, is disheartening. The fact that when there are clear incidents of targeted racism we still have "pundits" that fail to acknowledge it, and instead put the burden of proof on the victim is disgusting. Though it wouldn't be their first failure to be fair.

You only need to look at the reactions to Kudela's ban from the Czech coach and Vratislav Myner, who heads the office of the Czech Republic president, to see that racism is seen as a minor crime by these people and that we are a long way from eradicating it from the game. UEFA had a real chance to make an impact here and they have failed. They have failed Glen Kamara and they have failed a large proportion of their footballers.

Hopefully, my next article will see us return to a more pleasant topic.

The Rambling Ger

Twitter - @GerRambling

IG - TheRamblingGer