Rangers’ Glen Kamara reveals he still receives racist abuse after Ondrej Kudela incident | Football News

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara reveals he still receives racist abuse after the Ondrej Kudela incident last year and says he would now walk off the pitch if a similar situation happened again.

Kamara and Kudela clashed towards the end of the Europa League last-16 second leg between Rangers and Slavia Prague on March 18 2021. The Finland international claimed he was racially abused by Kudela late in the match, sparking a fracas that continued in the tunnel after the game.

Kudela – who was handed a 10-game ban by UEFA for “racist behaviour” – has always denied the claims. However, the 34-year-old dropped his appeal against the ban earlier this month and said: “I’m so sorry.”

His apology appeared to be limited to his regrets over approaching Kamara, with the Slavia Prague defender also not facing any criminal charges. Kamara was banned for three games for punching Kudela in the tunnel, but will also not be prosecuted.

Exactly a year on, Kamara sat down with Sky Sports and Marvin Bartley to discuss the incident and how it has affected him over the last 12 months.

Can you reflect on what happened a year ago?

I think there was a foul on one of their players right in front of me and everyone’s rushed over and it was like ‘ref, yellow card’. We’re going back and forth with some of the players and I’m just like “shut up” to Kudela.

He said ‘shut up’ back to me and I was like ‘oh big man’, just bantering it off. I mean nothing ever happens on the pitch. So, yeah, he was like ‘one second, my friend’ then he came over and whispered what he whispered in my ear and I reacted. I think everyone can see the shock in my face when it happened. My team-mate Bongani Zungu was there and he heard it.

[There were] so many different emotions running through my head at that time. Probably just like anger, embarrassment in a way, which it shouldn’t be when you’re on a football pitch. If I heard it from a fan, I’d take it in a bit more, but it’s a player. How should that happen? Why should that happen? It shouldn’t. [There were] a lot of different emotions going through my head.

I think the manager spoke to me after and he was saying to me: ‘Do you want to come off the pitch?’ But I couldn’t hear him, he kept on shouting my name and I’m right next to him, but I couldn’t hear anything. I was just like, you know, tunnel vision it was like, what is going on? How did that just happen on TV? My family, my friends are watching that, it’s embarrassing how someone just said that to me and got away with it. It was just a surreal moment.

In terms of that incident, obviously he puts his hand over his mouth. What does he actually say to you?

“You’re a f*****g m****y, you know you are.

You spoke about the word embarrassment. It’s almost like we’re embarrassed to be the colour we are. Why should we ever feel like that?

We shouldn’t, and it’s weird, because I remember thinking, why am I feeling like I was so angry? And it was like I feel a bit embarrassed and why am I feeling embarrassed? I’m here, like everyone else, playing the game. But I don’t know, at the time it was just how I felt. It’s hard to explain.

Was it ever something you thought would happen on a football pitch?

No, definitely not. Like I said, it’s different from a fan, but a player, it’s like, why? And the fact that they were winning the game as well. Why would you? You’re in cruise control, you’re going through, why?

Do you wish you had walked off the pitch?

Like I said, the manager was trying to call me and asked me ‘do you want to walk off the pitch? I will support you’.

I kind of wish I did, knowing it would have put the competition in a place where it’s like what do we do here? Do we kick them out or do we give Rangers a bye or something and it would have put them in a situation that they had probably never been in. Not many players have actually walked off but I kind of wish I did.

So if it happened again in the future you would walk off?

Yes.

Can you explain the difference between a racial incident and somebody saying anything else to you?

I don’t know if anyone would really have that feeling if you’re not racially abused. Obviously I played against you loads of times, I played against loads of boys and if we say “you idiot” or whatever, it’s nothing.

I had someone [recently] say “you idiot” and it’s nothing. But when someone racially abuses you it is a different feeling.

A rush of blood, anger, disappointment…everything. There are so many different emotions going through your mind.

And then when you get back to the dressing room, how are you feeling?

In just disbelief, shock. A lot of people are messaging me like, ‘what did he say and what happened’? Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, I know he said something because you’re so calm, you don’t react like that’.

I knew the support was there, and even like after everything happened, I had everyone supporting me. I had random people message me, I had big players from the Premier League and all over message me, which was really nice. I had loads of support – my friends, my family, everyone around me, which was nice.

Do you remember speaking to your mum after it happened?

I had a lot of phone calls. It was a late one, a late call, I got home late. She was upset, she wanted to see how I was and just really try and comfort me, like ‘You’re going to be okay, it’s alright, you’ve done me so proud.’ She’s always been there, always supported me throughout my journey.

How does it make you feel knowing that someone’s said something to you and in turn that’s upset your mum?

It’s not nice. I think that’s what probably brings the whole embarrassment feeling, anger, disappointment. It is not easy [the whole situation for her] but I know every time I step on that pitch, I try and make my mum proud.

Moving forward, you then play against Celtic. Scott Brown comes across to show his support before the game. How did you feel when that happened?

I guess a nice feeling from one player to another, just respect really. I appreciate it.

You started out at Arsenal and they drew Slavia in the next round. The Arsenal players took the knee and spoke about it. You’re an Arsenal fan too, how did that feel?

That was really nice. I spoke to a few of the guys, one of the boys who still works there and I was close to. He was like, ‘the players really support you’ – it was really nice to hear. I appreciate that as well.

How important was it to have Rangers and the fans behind you?

Everyone really supported me [at Rangers]. The fans did all this stuff for me, like big banners and fireworks, it felt really, really, really nice. I appreciate them big time – team-mates, everyone was really supportive from the manager, the chairman and everyone. The whole club really looked after me in that time and everyone just really supported me.

Do you ever have flashbacks of it? Almost like a nightmare?

I don’t want to say I have nightmares, but yeah I’ve thought about it, more so maybe like when people ask me or when I would go back to London. For example, like people might not recognise me as a Rangers footballer and they recognise me because I’ve been racially abused.

I remember going back to one of my friend’s burger shops he owns and a guy came in and he was looking at me a couple of times and he was like: ‘you’re that guy that got racially abused’. I was like: ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s me’. But he didn’t recognise me for football, he recognised me for that situation.

Is it something you still live with in terms of social media? Are people racially abusing you in regards to what happened in that incident?

Yeah, definitely. Let’s say there’s any kind of news that comes out about me or him [Kudela] or something – they’ll tag me or DM me. It’s every now and then, it’s probably way less than it was before but, yeah, they still pop up and message me or comment on my pictures or whatever.

That incident, I’ve definitely got to live with it.

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