Steven Gerrard and Connor Goldson hit out at UEFA's failure to take action for Sparta Prague crowd treatment of Glen Kamara

UEFA have failed to ‘stand up’ against racism by deciding not to pursue disciplinary action against Sparta Prague for last month’s jeering of Glen Kamara, according to the Rangers midfielder’s team-mate Connor Goldson.

Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara will miss Thursday's Europa League match against Brondby through suspension after being sent off against Sparta Prague last month. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Kamara was racially abused by Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela last season, for which UEFA imposed their maximum 10-match suspension on the Czech player, and his every touch of the ball was booed when Rangers lost 1-0 to Sparta three weeks ago.

UEFA appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to look into events at the Letna Stadium where the crowd was composed of supervised groups of schoolchildren after previous incidents of racist abuse by Sparta fans.

But European football’s governing body subsequently announced no fresh case would be raised against Sparta due to a lack of evidence.

Goldson, who missed the game in Prague because of injury, insists the targeting of Kamara was clear and feels UEFA have again not provided sufficient backing for black players.

“I watched it at home with my wife and my child and you heard it so early in the game and it continued throughout the whole game,” said Goldson.

“So the whole lack of evidence thing is obviously disappointing to hear. But, as I’ve said numerous times, it’s not going to change. There’s not much that we can really do anymore to change it. It’s going to keep happening.

“We just need to try and do as much as we can to help educate and try and influence the next generation of people. But I don’t think that UEFA are really going to stand up and really help us in that sector.”

Kamara will miss Rangers’ next Europa League match against Brondby at Ibrox on Thursday night through suspension after being sent off against Sparta for two bookable offences.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard echoed Goldson’s sentiments on UEFA’s ruling on the Finnish international’s treatment by the Sparta crowd.

“I’m probably a bit of both (surprised and disappointed),” said Gerrard. “I don’t think the punishments are big enough for this type of stuff, not just in this game and in terms of the Glen incident. As a whole, I don’t think the punishments for racism are enough and that is the reason why it won’t be totally eradicated out of the game any time soon.”

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