Czech FA president hails Sparta amid denials of racism

CZECH FA president Petr Fousek has praised Sparta Prague for the atmosphere created by children in their Europa League game against Rangers as the storm over their alleged racist abuse of Ibrox star Glen Kamara continued.

And a coach of a kids club who was at the game strongly refuted the allegations of racism after pointing out none of Rangers’ other black players were booed.

Finnish international Kamara was jeered throughout Rangers’ 1-0 defeat in the Czech Republic on Thursday night where he was later sent off, with the crowd consisting of 10,000 kids, after Sparta were ordered initially to play the match behind closed doors due to racist abuse from their fans in a match against Monaco earlier this season. The club took advantage of a UEFA exemption for under-14s to attend.

Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela was found guilty by UEFA

of racist abuse towards Kamara last season which caused the Czech international to be banned for ten games and miss Euro 2020.

Thursday has sparked controversy, with Rangers complaining to UEFA and the Czech Government summoning the British ambassador. The Czechs are furious at what they claim are attacks on their children.

And Czech FA chief Fousek went out of his way to defend Sparta.

He said: ‘I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate the atmosphere that the children created in the Letna Stadium, which was really amazing.

‘Congratulations to Sparta on the idea of filling the stands with children and I am glad that UEFA accepted this proposal.

‘As the president of the FACR, which has long been focused on combatting any manifestations of intolerance, I completely reject a similar generalisation of the problem of racism.

‘Whether in the direction of Czech clubs, Czech football, the capital city of Prague or the entire Czech Republic and its citizens. it is unacceptable to overturn the reality that I saw at Letna into what I subsequently read about what was happening at the stadium.’

The Czech children’s groups who attended the game had to be accompanied by an adult carer, and Czech lower-league club FK Nachod sent one of their youth teams to the game. They were accompanied by the club’s coach, Otto Hynek.

He said: ‘There was no racism. Yes, the stands roared against Kamara, but not the other black players from Rangers.

‘For example, there was a black Rangers player with braids. He was on the ball all the time and no one booed him.

‘When Kamara got sent off, the booing was mocking him. If someone else had behaved like a butcher they would have booed him, too. People are asking why didn’t the kids whistle instead of boo and I’ve read that because they booed Kamara, it must be racism.

‘But they didn’t whistle because they can’t — they are children! So they booed instead. I totally reject any accusations of racism.’

And Sparta Prague spokesman Ondrej Kasik pointed out they even handed out anti-racism booklets to the kids before the game.

He said: ‘We put a huge effort into this. For example, instead of the usual match programme, they were given a children’s brochure, where we tried, among other things, to explain what racism is, why it is bad, why it does not belong in life.

‘So all the statements I have read about our kids since the game are xenophobic and offensive. It’s bullying towards children, their parents, coaches, teachers and, in fact, all Czechs.’

Yes, the stands roared against Kamara but not other black players