Celtic’s interim boss John Kennedy has called for a united front between all clubs and governing bodies in their stance against racism. Kennedy was talking to Celtic TV ahead of this weekend’s Glasgow Derby and made the comments in response to a question about the issue, which was raised in light an alleged racist incident at Ibrox last night.
Kennedy said: “There’s a huge way to go, we’ve been victims of it ourselves some of our players have been racially abused in a number of forms and it’s totally unacceptable, something really needs to be done about it.
“I don’t know the details of last night but there’s obviously allegations there, and it happens far too often. There’s no place for it in society at all never mind football and it’s something that needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. It’s how you do that, these people have the platform to attack players or anyone on social media and in such an easy way, it’s totally unacceptable and it needs to be dealt with very seriously.”
When further broached on the issue, Kennedy was asked if he felt unity across all clubs and governing bodies was important. He replied: “100%, all governing bodies, all clubs have to come together with this. The only way it works is if everybody gets behind it. There’s no point in small groups, everybody has to get on the same page with this, take it as seriously as they possibly can and try deal with it as best it can be dealt with.”
#CelticFC‘s interim manager John Kennedy has called for unity from all clubs and governing bodies in their stance against racism – not just in football, but in all walks of life.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) March 19, 2021
The incident at Ibrox has not been investigated yet, but the case that racist comments were made against Kamara has been put forward. If true, and all the signs suggest it is, then that should quite rightly be condemned and it is a positive step to hear Kennedy call for unity in tackling the problem.
Aside from the racism, Slavia Prague’s goalkeeper had his skull fractured by a disgraceful tackle from Kemar Roofe, whilst a Slavia player was allegedly assaulted in the tunnel. It was not a good night for football yesterday. Hopefully the violent and dangerous actions of players will disappear along with any racist comments in the future of the game.
