‘WE NEED REAL ACTION’
Robertson hopes Kamara race row can spark actual change in football
STEWART ROBERTSON hopes the alleged abuse directed towards Glen Kamara acts as a catalyst for change as football and society battle to overcome the scourge of racism.
Kamara has claimed that he was called a ‘f ****** monkey’ by defender
Ondrej Kudela during Rangers’ Europa League clash with Slavia Prague earlier this month.
The Czech side have denied the accusations of racism and vowed to defend their player, whilst making claims that Kudela was assaulted post-match as they insisted they will fully co-operate with UEFA and Police Scotland investigations.
Rangers and Kamara have received widespread support in recent days and Celtic captain Scott Brown would embrace the Finnish internationalist ahead of the Old Firm fixture at Parkhead a fortnight ago.
UEFA have yet to decide what punishment, if any, will be handed to Kudela and managing director Robertson hopes highlighting the issues of racism will lead to changes in behaviours and attitudes going forward.
Robertson said: “You could tell by the reaction of Glen and Bongani Zungu that something horrific had been said. I’m in absolutely no doubt what happened having seen video recordings.
“You see the gestures that have been made by other clubs – Dundee United, Motherwell, Scott Brown, and the Scottish national team. That support has been great to see. You’d rather it had never happened in the first place and we’re not talking about it today, but hopefully it galvanises. You mention taking a knee and how that’s changed because people are taking a stand. They have to be more than gestures.
“It’s great these gestures are happening and raising the profile but there’s a risk that if they keep happening, you don’t really notice them after a while. Something else needs to be done to keep the subject matter in people’s minds and consciousness.
“After the incident with Glen, we had Rio and Anton Ferdinand tweeting about it and getting it out to really wide audiences. The abuse Kemar Roofe got was discussed in a debate at Westminster about social media.
“If there’s any good to come from this, and it’s hard to see given the horrific nature of what happened, it might be that people think twice before they do something like this again.”
The Scottish FA will hold a summit meeting with Premiership clubs on Wednesday to discuss diversity and inclusion within the game and Rangers will be represented by captain James Tavernier and supporter liaison officer Greg Marshall.
Striker Kemar Roofe was also the subject of racist abuse on social media following the Slavia clash and Robertson has called for ‘real actions’ to emerge from the discussions.
Robertson said: “It’s great they have actually called all the clubs together and hopefully it becomes more than just a talking shop.
“Hopefully there are some real outcomes and actions from it that we will see being applied, and hopefully see beginning to make a difference
You could tell by the reaction of Glen and Bongani that something horrific had been said
in terms of diversity and inclusion within the game.
“I know a lot of clubs do a lot of good work in the areas. It’s probably not the clubs that have got the issue.
“We’ve got our own ‘Everyone Anyone’ campaign which has been really successful and worked really well for us in getting messages across. But we need to look at how we take it broader.
“There has been a lot of commentary over the past few weeks on the social media companies and how government can interact with that.
“You’d rather the government didn’t have to enforce but that’s where we’re going to get to in terms of getting the companies to take more care of what individuals put on their social media feeds.
“That’s one of the key areas where so much of this abuse happens. You wouldn’t invite these guys into your house to abuse you in the way that they do when they come onto your social media accounts.
“I would like to think the summit will see some real actions. Hopefully it’s the first meeting of many.”