‘ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS HURT SOMEONE’
Goldson reflects on rage and despair after alleged racist incident against Slavia Prague
CONNOR GOLDSON has gone way beyond disappointed or despondent when it comes to racism in football. His overriding emotion now is just pure anger.
For a few minutes on Thursday evening, that fury threatened to spill over. Goldson admits he lost his cool and he was on the brink of an act of retaliation that he may well have later regretted.
It is easy to understand why the Englishman was so worked up, though. Slavia Prague have dismissed allegations of racism from defender Ondrej Kudela but the reaction of Glen Kamara tells its own story.
Kamara is a quiet and unassuming person, a committed and driven professional. Whatever Kudela shouted in his ear behind a cowardly cupped hand, it was enough to rile him in scenes that were out of character.
When Goldson confronted Kudela and both sets of players clashed, he didn’t just do so as a captain or a friend. He would also act as someone who has heard all the abuse before and seen nothing done for too long to eradicate racism from football.
“Anger more than anything,” Goldson said when asked about the incident yesterday as Steven Gerrard’s squad and the Rangers support rallied around Kamara and united in condemnation. “I’m disappointed, these are scenes you should never see on a football pitch.
“But I’m proud the way the whole team and club handled the situation. From top to bottom we handled it really strongly and backed Glen to the hilt. I always will because I’ve got such a strong relationship with him.
“Listen it wasn’t allegedly said – it was said. It shows togetherness and a tightness in the group – but it shouldn’t need something like that to show how tight knit a football group is.
“I’m disgusted with what happened. I know it was said, 100 per cent. I didn’t hear it myself but I know how Glen is.
“In the two-and-a-half years he’s been here I don’t think you’ve ever seen him angry or emotional in any kind of way.
“So for him to get like that then I know something was said and I believe him 100 per cent.
“That’s why I reacted in the way I did. The player couldn’t even look me in my eyes or speak to me. I’ve never been so angry on a football pitch.
“I’ll be honest I completely lost my cool and for the remainder of the game all I wanted to do was hurt someone. I’ve never been like that before on a football pitch.”
There will sadly always be those for whom the colour of a players’ skin is more important than the colour of their jersey and Slavia would accuse Kamara of assaulting Kudela in the tunnel as they sought to shift the focus away from the allegations that now stain the Czech’s reputation.
In leagues across the continent, players continue to hold up posters and take part in promotional videos and the majority have chosen to take a knee before matches in an attempt to highlight the scourge of discrimination in the game.
The messages are all fine and well, of course. But the focus is now on UEFA and actions really will speak louder than words here.
Goldson said: “It never will get eradicated because there are so many token gestures out there.
“I’ll be honest, taking a knee – token gesture from the higher authorities to make it look like they are doing something to help.
“But they are not doing anything because when these things happen there is no consequence.
“There might be a fine but it’s never enough. You get fined more for showing an advertisement on your underwear than you do for being racist or having a support that’s being racist. It will never change.
“I just wish it would never happen. We’re in an age now where I feel we’re making steps forwards but then with things like social media, it’s a move backwards.
“You have the incident on the pitch where you are already angry. Then you come into the changing room and the boys look at their phone and you’re see all sorts of emojis and racism from sections of their fans. It’s just hard to take.
“I don’t think you’ll ever understand how hard it is to take for us where you work so hard to get in a position where you become a professional footballer. It’s hard enough as it is then you do make it and you have to carry on with the abuse that comes with it.”
The incident between Kamara and Kudela came at the end of what had been a disappointing evening in a sporting sense for Rangers as they saw their Europa League ambitions brought to a premature end.
Red cards for Kemar Roofe and Leon Balogun didn’t help their cause as Slavia scored twice at Ibrox to clinch a place in the last eight and a meeting with Arsenal is their reward.
For Rangers, the focus is now on domestic matters and the trip to Parkhead on Sunday is the perfect way for Gerrard’s side to regroup and refocus as they bid for a third derby victory this term.
Goldson said: “There was a lot of work went into the game [on Thursday] and unfortunately we didn’t manage to progress but I think if you wanted one fixture that you didn’t need any motivation for, it is an Old Firm.
“It is probably the best fixture you could have after going out in Europe just because of the fact mentally you don’t need to prepare for it, you know what is coming and what to expect and you know where you need to be mentally and physically to get a result out of the game.”
The player couldn’t even look me in my eyes. I’ve never been so angry on the pitch