When Rangers player, Glen Kamara, reacted angrily to something that had been said to him during the Europa League fixture against Slavia Prague, it was obvious the words were unsavoury.
Subsequently, Ondrej Kudela, was charged with using racist language, but UEFA’s punishment of the player has been described as ‘tokenistic’ by Kamara’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar.
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Kudela has been handed a 10-game ban, but Anwar, supported by the Scottish PFA, believe that’s far too lenient.
“Players are saying to the authorities we expect you to take robust action,” Anwar said to BBC Scotland, cited by BBC Sport.
“Uefa should have imposed a minimum year-long ban rather than the tokenistic 10-match ban. They could have sent out a far stronger message that this abhorrent conduct wouldn’t be tolerated.”
The authorities certainly need to be doing more in order that the punishment acts as an appropriate deterrent.
Until such time as players understand that they could miss a huge portion of their career if they engage in such language, the opportunity for them to continue will exist.
In the meantime, clubs and players will need to navigate matches without losing their cool, for fear of sanctions against themselves.