Club 1872 wishes to express our full support for Glen Kamara following the racist abuse he suffered during the game with Slavia Prague at Ibrox. His bravery in detailing the precise nature of that abuse in his statement last night should not be underestimated and we stand shoulder to shoulder with him as we await UEFA’s response. The footballing world will be watching very closely.
We are extremely proud of the stand taken by Rangers, Steven Gerrard and the Rangers players, both in their actions and statements following this incident. We are disgusted by the actions of Ondrej Kudela and also those of his club, Slavia Prague, who have engaged in a campaign of disinformation and obfuscation which has emboldened further racist abuse of Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe on social media. We have seen only a fraction of this on our own social media feeds since commenting on the incident yesterday. Again, we stand with the Rangers players and manager in condemning this racist behaviour and we hope Instagram and Twitter will take strong, appropriate action against the perpetrators.
Unfortunately we also find ourselves in the position of having to address the behaviour of Michael Stewart in relation to this latest incident of racism directed at a Rangers player. In February 2020, Mr Stewart did his best to use his platform on BBC Scotland to cast doubt on the racist abuse suffered by Alfredo Morelos at Celtic Park, despite someone being charged over the incident. Fast forward one year and he is again refusing to take the personal experience of a black player who has been racially abused at face value.
We believe Glen Kamara 100%, his account is clear, his and his teammates’ reaction at the time was authentic and it was immediately apparent to anyone with any common sense that something serious had occurred. For racism to be dealt with in football, our default position should be to believe the accounts of those who experience it and seek the corroboration and evidence to allow the authorities to take strong action. For Michael Stewart to take the opposite approach, twice, is a disgrace.
We are fully aware of Michael Stewart’s desperate quest for attention and we are loath to give him the attention he craves, but this is too serious a matter to allow to pass without comment. BBC Scotland told us last year, following Mr Stewart’s rant at that time, that he had been reminded of his responsibilities. Clearly, that ‘reminder’ has fallen on deaf ears. BBC Scotland’s continuing tolerance of him is further evidence of the institutional decline of the Scottish outpost of the BBC. This latest outburst should be his last and we will watch with interest to see if BBC Scotland now take the action they should have taken over a year ago.
ISSUED BY SUPPORTERS VOICE LIMITED, A CLUB 1872 COMPANY
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