Racism is abhorrent but so is Rangers' hypocrisy
Rangers' Europa League exit overshadowed by Racism and assault claims
Racism in any form is abhorrent and those perpetrating such a crime should face the consequences of their abuse, so with the allegations coming out of Ibrox spearheaded by Glen Kamara that he was racially abused by Slavia Prague’s Ondřej Kúdela then UEFA must open an investigation and find out the truth of the matter. If the Rangers midfielder was indeed racially abused then Kúdela must face the full weight of UEFA’s disciplinary sanctions and receive a significant ban.
However, given that we live in a democratic society, Ondřej Kúdela should be afforded the privilege of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ just as Glen Kamara should be afforded it following counter claims made by Slavia Prague that the midfielder premeditatedly violently attacked Kúdela in the tunnel after the match - with team mates allegedly covering cameras in the tunnel to prevent them from picking up the attack, which was seemingly witnessed by Rangers manager Steven Gerrard and UEFA representatives. If it is proven that Kamara did indeed attack Ondřej Kúdela then there is no grey area when it comes to UEFA Disciplinary action, the Finnish international will face sanctions himself if proven to be true as could Rangers over the failure to control their players and preventing the opposition side from entering their changing rooms at full time.
In the meantime, both players are innocent until proven guilty.
With that being said, what I can’t stand is the hypocrisy of Rangers, their players, and their supporters. The Ibrox side is a club with a long history of sectarian and racist abuse - which has been left pretty much unchallenged by the upper echelons of the club to keep their loyal fanbase happy as a pig in shite.
This is a club whose fans for decades have sang sectarian and racist songs. They have belted out anti-Catholic and anti-Irish chants and songs, they have targeted individuals within the Scottish game, primarily Celtic managers, players and their fans. They have unfurled racist banners aimed at the likes of ex-Celt Shunsuke Nakamura, defender Paul Elliott faced racist abuse at the hands of Rangers fans when he played for the club, as did Scott Sinclair during his time north of the border - to name but a few.
In fact, their own players have faced the wrath of their own racist supporters - Maurice Edu being one who faced abuse at the hands of two Rangers fans after a match which the Ibrox side lost - a game that the American wasn’t even playing in. Captain James Tavernier was the target of racist abuse last season and the season before from Rangers fans over poor performances and dodgy defending, as did manager Steven Gerrard who was called a fenian c*nt because of his failure to stop Celtic winning their eighth and ninth title in a row.
Gerrard himself has previously been accused of racism, by former teammate and ex-Ger El Hadji Diouf - claims that were rubbished. However, the former Liverpool skipper showed support for Luis Suarez after the Patrice Evra racist storm by wearing a t-shirt of support and then asked the two players to subsequently shake hands and move on. So if anyone should wait until it is proven to be true then Gerrard really should know better - but he is only supporting his player at the end of the day.
We then had scenes over the summer and at the start of the season when Rangers players took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign, this set off a torrent of racist abuse aimed at their players and the club being the target of criticism over such a stance - as they used the Donald Trump playbook on racism.
And if that was not enough to show up the Rangers fans’ hypocrisy over Racist abuse when they celebrated winning their first ever top flight title, after their old club was liquidated, their fans celebrated outside Ibrox and at George Square singing anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sectarian and racist songs in full view of Scotland’s thin blue line - who did nothing to counter such scenes except for posing for photographs and escorting them along the road to congregate in contravention of current pandemic lockdown measures.
Many reading this would argue that the scenes following the alleged racist abuse of Kamara is all the proof you need of Ondřej Kúdela guilt, and would criticise the stance I have taken of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ - but I would point them to the case of Michael Gardyne. The Ross County captain was alleged to have targeted Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos with racist and homophobic abuse after another moment of thuggery by the Colombian.
Steven Gerrard again backed his player’s claims, he demanded that Ross County investigate - which they did and found that the player had no case to answer. That didn’t stop the Scottish FA charging Gardyne with racist and homophobic abuse. This charge led to the ex-Celt being the target of sectarian abuse from Rangers supporters in retaliation over his alleged crime. And yet over a month later, Gardyne was cleared of all wrong doing by the Scottish FA for what they called as ‘insufficient evidence’ - but in reality, it was down to the fact that Gardyne had not been guilty of the crimes levelled against him - but had called Morelos a fanny. Which is far from racist nor homophobic.
So before anyone jumps to conclusions and believes one side over the other, experience has shown everyone needs to be careful over what they claim and believe - until it is proven one way or another.
But that won’t let me stop shaking my head and laughing at the sheer hypocrisy of Rangers and their fans over racist abuse - when they have a huge problem in their rank and file that continues unabated. One rule for them and one rule for others.