Let’s get rid of the token fines. People want action .. they want punishments. It’s all over social media and we’re sick to death of it
SAYS SCOTLAND NO.2 STEVEN REID
STEVEN REID provides a nice line in self deprecation when he says that most of the abuse he got as a player was for his lack of ability rather than his skin colour.
But the Scotland coach was deadly serious about every other aspect of a discussion that has been front and centre of the sporting and social agenda since Rangers’ Glen Kamara suffered horrendous racial abuse against Slavia Prague last Thursday. Reid strongly believes the time for box-ticking tokenism such as taking the knee is over. Action, in terms of punishment for racist behaviour, has to reflect the seriousness of the crime.
He might have been down south in his other role as Nottingham Forest first-team coach at the end of last week but Reid is well aware of what happened at Ibrox and the fury that has followed. He understands why this should be a line-inthe-sand moment and believes Scotland’s players are also right to insist enough is enough, whether it is on-field or online racist abuse they have suffered.
In fact, as he spoke about th e subject, Steve Clarke’s right-hand man was emotional. The week’s events have that sort of effect.
“Going back to the Rangers game, I thought they dealt with the incident really well, really strong from the manager and the club in supporting Glen,” he said.
“There’s support for Glen. There have also been issues for Kemar Roofe as well.
“I played alongside Kemar at West Brom and it’s great to see the support the players have received.
“I was really impressed with how the club dealt with it straight away.
“Now it’s about getting rid of these token punishments, a token fine here and there.
“It’s about action and that’s what people want to see.
“We can take the knee, we can stand, we can have individual protests. But people want to see action now, I mean proper punishments. People being held accountable for what they are saying and how they are behaving.
“That ultimately is the stage where we are at now.
“People are sick to death of the abuse, it’s freely on social media sites now and with the ease in which it seems to be a weekly occurrence.
“Something meaningful needs to be done now.
“It obviously gets a little bit emotional with that one.
“But people want to see real action and we’re all sick to death of the abuse and online abuse which people are receiving.”
Asked if he has been a victim of racial abuse, the former Republic of Ireland international briefly lightened the conversation, saying: “There have been individual moments. But things have escalated in the period that I’ve finished playing.
“It wasn’t such a massive issue it’s become now.
“From a personal point of view, in terms of social media stuff, I was quite lucky I didn’t suffer too much abuse.
“It definitely wasn’t for racist abuse, it was more ability! That, I could deal with.
“But towards the back end of my career when I finished, it just seems to have escalated massively now.
“A player having a bad game, or having an individual error in a game, opens himself up to getting abuse on the social media platforms.
“It’s almost at a stage now where it can feel like there’s a blame put on the victims, like ‘Why are you on social media?’
“There needs to be more emphasis put on the abusers.”
The fallout from the Kamara situation has dominated Scottish football and will continue to do so for some time to come. But on the pitch, Scotland have to concentrate on getting off to a World Cup flier on Thursday when Austria come calling.
The big news in the build-up is, of course, the recruitment of Southampton striker Che Adams, who qualifies through a grandparent – just as Englandborn Reid did for Ireland.
Reid is convinced that all of the noise surrounding Adams, who had knocked back earlier Scotland approaches, is coming from outwith and not inside the camp.
He said: “That’s more of an issue from the outside, with social media.
“To me, it’s a case of him being here now and committing to us. It has been going on a little while but the decision is made and it’s all about getting down to business, getting involved as quickly as possible, integrating into the squad and team and delivering performances.
“If he gets on the scoresheet and we get a couple of results, it can soon turn opinions round, that’s for sure. But we are just delighted to have him.
“The squad itself is a really welcoming group – a really supportive group. He met the group last night and it does help that he’s got Stuart Armstrong from his club.
“The performances he’s delivered this season fully merit his call up and he’s joining a really tight-knit, strong group.”