Slavia Prague have contradicted their earlier stance in a hypocritical statement regarding an incidence of Rangers abuse which has since resulted in a UEFA ban.
Slavia defender Ondrej Kudela will serve a 10-game suspension after being found guilty of racially abusing Rangers star Glen Kamara.
Kamara will serve a three-game suspension for an alleged assault in the aftermath of the match, something which has rankled with the Rangers support.
However, despite insisting Kudela was both a bastion of honesty and of leadership within their squad, in turn accusing Glen Kamara of fabricating the story, they’ve suddenly changed tact.
“Ondřej was suspended for 10 UEFA games and as a club we respect the decision,” said Slavia chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik [Slavia].
“In any case, Ondřej Kúdela should not have approached the opposition player.
“I deeply regret that and apologise to Glen Kamara for a situation that has clearly caused distress to him and his teammates, as well as everyone associated with Slavia and Rangers.
“I am taking positive steps to prevent such a situation from happening in our club ever again.”
The club also opened up about their hopes for education regarding the matter.
“We want to learn even more from this situation, and we are open to cooperation with major anti-racism British organisations on workshops and setting up even more robust internal club rules.
“It is a way for us to organise a broader dialogue that should result in mutual understanding between people in Czechia as well as the UK.
“This would benefit all players, fans, and citizens.”
The reprehensible Czech football club’s pandering statement about education and acceptance of the ban might in some way be a positive step.
Racism – as evidenced by the reaction of the club’s support – is clearly a massive issue in Czech football and in Czech culture and their backtracking, meandering response to this incident was a sign of a club under pressure, feeling helpless under the waves of the issue.
But we also seen a club in denial and devoid of leadership, whose reaction to the incident – far from be dignified – actually fanned the flames of racism. They should’ve been more honest in the first instance.
It was a cowardly response and whilst the latest retort takes a semblance of responsibility, their coverage in the aftermath of the incident deserves to be scrutinised.
The fall-out is still being felt on a daily basis by Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe. Had Slavia been more mature in their response, perhaps they wouldn’t have felt quite so responsible.
There has been plenty said regarding the incident around global football with three of the British game’s biggest names chiming in with their two cents in the last 24 hours.
