Scotland’s stars have made the decision that they won’t take the knee ahead of this summer’s Euro 2020 games at Hampden – however, the criticism being directed at Steve Clarke’s squad is completely out of order following the aftermath of Rangers star Glen Kamara being racially abused in a Europa League tie last season.
Captain Andy Robertson initially confirmed the Scotland team would “continue to take a stand against racism” ahead of their Euro 2020 fixtures in a brief statement on the Scottish FA website, leading to a barrage of criticism.
Kamara was subjected to sickening abuse by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela in March, leading to the Rangers players ‘standing with’ Kamara in subsequent games – and publicly explaining their stance at the time.
In the wake of Kamara being abused, Goldson spoke to the media and called taking the knee little more than a “token gesture” and admitting his belief that “it will never change.”
That then led to Rangers players, and several other Premiership clubs standing before games – with the Scottish international team following suit in their March fixtures.
As everyone rallied around the #IStandWithGlenKamara hashtag, there appeared to be a strong, unified message coming from Scottish football that enough was enough and something had to be done.
At the time, there was no criticism of Clarke and his players – nor any of the players from Premiership clubs who stood in support of Kamara – so to see prominent figures pointing the finger ahead of Euro 2020 seems very disingenuous.
One councillor in Aberdeenshire has even gone as far as to claim they’ll support England for 90 minutes in response to the Scotland squad opting not to take the knee.
Amidst all the posturing over the physical action over standing or kneeling, the main point behind both gestures has been lost in a game of social media point-scoring.
Rather than squabbling over standing or kneeling, putting as much energy into actually trying to eradicate the problem would make a much bigger impact.
There were also some concerns about the ‘optics’ of how the Scotland team standing while England – who have a higher number of BAME players than the Scots – take the knee.
That then forced the Scottish squad into a change of tact, with Clarke and Robertson releasing an updated statement saying they would kneel before the England game but stand in the two Hampden fixtures.
That the manager and captain have had to respond to the finger pointing and accusations days before they kick off Scotland’s first major tournament in 23 years is ridiculous.
Taking the focus away from trying to stop racism and turning it into a competition over who can ‘do’ the most helps nobody and achieves nothing, and it appears for far too many it’s more about being seen to be doing something than actually making a difference.
Whether the Scotland squad stand at Euro 2020, take the knee, hold hands or do anything else – the ONLY thing that should matter is that they are doing something to try to prompt change.
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