There have been calls to kick Slavia Prague out of the Europa League after a number of the Czech club’s fans held up a vile banner calling Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara a ‘n*****’.
Rangers were beaten 2-0 in their European clash with Slavia, losing 3-1 on aggregate, but the game was overshadowed by racism allegations that Kamara was called a ‘f***ing monkey’ by Ondrej Kudela, which resulted in a bust-up on the pitch.
Kudela covered his mouth with his hand in an apparent bid to avoid the scrutiny of TV cameras, with Kamara later telling Steven Gerrard he was the victim of a racist comment – allegations that the Slavia player has denied.
Slavia Prague ultras hold up a vile banner calling Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara a ‘n*****’
It comes after Kamara was allegedly racially abused by Ondrej Kudela on Thursday night
Europe’s governing body are investigating the incident, while the Czech club claim in turn to have filed a criminal complaint against the Rangers midfielder for an alleged assault on Kudela after the game.
Kamara’s legal representative Aamer Anwar revealed that, despite statements to the contrary from Slavia Prague, Scottish police have yet to receive any criminal complaint regarding Kamara’s alleged attack on Kudela following Thursday’s game.
Rangers has been contacted by Sportsmail for comment.
And in the latest twist in this developing story, Slavia’s back-up goalkeeper Premysl Kovar appeared to confirm that Kudela did call Kamara a ‘f***ing monkey’ in an extraordinary voice recording – according to the Sun.
Kovar reportedly said in the recording, which was released into Czech social media: ‘We were kept on the field for an hour because of ‘Kudy.’ He told the man he was a f****** monkey.’
But immediately after the recording was released, Kovar went to great lengths to deny he said his team-mate had directed racist abuse at Kamara.
In a later statement, he said: ‘I made the recording about an hour and a quarter after the match.
‘I found it absolutely incredible how Rangers treated us after the match. The only reason for the incredible situation, including the physical assault of my friend Ondrej Kudela, is the alleged claim of the player Glen Kamara that Kudela used the term that he’s claimed.
‘I didn’t hear that from Ondrej personally and later on he denied it completely and I believe him. Those words are just false accusations on the part of the player. So my recording was only to describe the incredible situation.’
Slavia also denied that Kovar had confirmed Kudela’s alleged racial abuse.
General Secretary Michal Bycek said: ‘Premysl Kovar accurately described the situation on the pitch after the end of the match and the phrase that was alleged. The recording and its context preclude any other interpretation.’
UEFA are investigating the incident after Kamara claimed he was called ‘a f***ing monkey’
Reports surfaced on Saturday of an alleged voice recording by Premysl Kovar that suggested Kudela did call Kamara a ‘f***ing monkey’ – but he later denied it
Tensions from Thursday night have continued to escalate, with the saga taking another disgusting turn when 11 of the Czech club’s supporters posed with a long banner that reads ‘Kamara – just a n*****’ while holding flares to light it up.
Another image posted on the same Instagram account shows the group holding another banner that read: ‘Slavia Praha against all #TeamKudela.’
The banner, which was posted to social media on Friday night, was condemned by the Slavia Prague chairman, Jaroslav Tvrdik, who labelled it as ‘disgusting’ and ‘pathetic’.
Though Slavia have stood by Kudela, who denies using racist language, the club say they will be taking the image to police.
Slavia said in a statement: ‘The club is absolutely disgusted by the racist photograph published online by a group of alleged ‘fans’ on Friday night. We condemn this act as totally unacceptable, and we distance ourselves from it. It is an unprecedented backstabbing of the club and its ideals.
‘SK Slavia Praha files criminal complaint against unknown individuals involved in the preparation and publishing of the picture. The club will launch its own inquiry into this matter in order to identify those individuals.
‘Racism has no room in our club, and we have been fighting against it for a long time. Every player is considered a member of our family, no matter what the colour of their skin, their nationality, cultural background, or religion is. We maximally support our players in their current fight against racism and against the abovementioned picture on the social media.
‘Slavia has great fans who many times managed to amaze the football world in a positive way. We ask them to join us, and publicly sign up to zero tolerance of racism and condemn such behaviour. Let’s present the real, cultivated, and noble Slavia we are all proud of.’
Rangers legend Kris Boyd has called for the Czech club to be kicked out of the Europa League
The despicable banner has led to calls for stronger action to be taken against the Czech side – who are now in the quarter-finals.
Rangers legend Kris Boyd insists UEFA need to take the strongest possible action and set the precedent that racism will not be tolerated.
Boyd has demanded that Slavia be kicked out of the competition and allow Arsenal to be given a bye into the semis.
He told Sky Sports: ‘We need to take the strongest stance possible.
‘For me that would be to kick Slavia Prague out of the competition. I’m not saying that with a Rangers head on or anything and get Rangers back in. The best team won.
‘Kick them out and give Arsenal a bye into the semi-finals because it’s not right.
‘If it’s swept under the carpet, it doesn’t get dealt with. I think it was Kamara that said, ‘you give it the green light to continue’. This racism in football is a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace.
‘UEFA have an opportunity to do something about it here.’
Boyd went on to claim that no fine would be enough to punish racist offenders and that the strongest punishment must be taken.
He added: ‘How can we go about this and how can we ask society to change and do things if we’ve got a professional football player, on one of the biggest stages in football, actually racially abusing another professional player?
Fans on Twitter backed Boyd by calling for Slavia Prague to be banned from Europa League
‘It’s not on. As I said, you can fine these clubs and you can fine them as much as you want – it is irrelevant and a stronger stance needs to be taken on this now.’
One fan wrote: ‘Racist behaviour on the pitch and racist fans off the pitch. UEFA ban them now. This behaviour is disgusting. Watching Goldson interview is hard to watch. He looks exhausted the poor guy, because no one is listening about racism.’
Another Twitter user implored others to get the ‘BanSlavia’ hashtag trending while many showed their support to Kamara following the picture of the banner.
Following Boyd’s comments, the hashtag ‘BanSlavia’ was started with fans agreeing that the Czech club should be punished for the banner.