A view from the other side…

In response to the FLAF Scotland statement on Glen Kamara of Rangers we received this article from an anti-fascist Slavia Prague supporter.

A view from the other side…🇨🇿

It’s been an embarrassing few days for myself as Czech person living in Scotland. Slavia Prague has been my family club for generations. Especially for the past few years, it has been a pleasure watching them (over)performing in Europe year in year out. Unfortunately, rather than talking about the horrific challenge by Roofe, the overly aggressive Rangers and tactically great performance from Slavia, we have to talk about the aftermath of the unnecessary and hideous act by an individual player, shockingly supported by many so-called supporters on social media. Slavia’s statements of denial and “copy-paste” anti-racism statements show how deep this issue is rooted in the cultural heritage of the country. More about that in the last paragraph.

What happened on Thursday night was shocking. Without a question. We need to educate the public, educate players, staff and others involved in the beautiful game. Just like many, I support Glen Kamara’s claim and hope Kudela will be adequately punished, heavily punished. He is a player that has never played outside his home country apart from his 6 months long stint in Kazakhstan. In my personal opinion and based on his statement of admitting to say “you fucking guy”, his English skills won’t be great as that statement translates a lot harshly in Czech (and his head) than it sounds. Saying that I am sure he will have enough in his vocabulary to use the words described by Kamara and Zungu.

Slagging each other on social media, pointing fingers at sectarianism of Rangers camp or Gerrard standing by Suarez’s side in Evra’s case won’t achieve anything. We and most importantly football associations and UEFA need to deal with these situations a lot more harshly then they do. Pathetic statements of apology, finger pointing, closing stadiums and issuing fines won’t do the job. It’s just not good enough. 

Just like everywhere else, it drips down from the top. Czechia is one of the most racists countries in Europe (1). From the scaremongering self-profiteering politicians and corrupt football officials (2) to “unintentional racist everyday people”. I put the latter down mostly to a lack of education on the topic and a lack of experience of interaction with people of colour. I won’t go into any depth of racism in Czech but (without trying to stereotype) most of the people back there always see people of colour as something unusual and would use racist terms very lightly, without understanding it’s not acceptable. 

EDUCATE TO ERADICATE

1 http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/harvard-survey-over-15-years-finds-czechs-are-europe-s-biggest-racists-critics-question-its-methodology

2 https://www.world-today-news.com/roman-berbr-vice-president-of-the-football-association-of-the-czech-republic-was-arrested/