Scotland coach Steven Reid believes it is time for action on discrimination in football as the national team plan to stand against racism.
The Scottish FA announced yesterday the national side would stand rather than take the knee in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Austria, as a raft of measures following the alleged racial abuse of Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara.
It is part of efforts to tackle racism in the game, brought to the forefront again after Kamara reported racial abuse from Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela during their Europa League tie.
Rangers striker Kemar Roofe was also targeted on social media and Reid has backed the measures to try eradicate such behaviour.
He said: “I’m absolutely behind the decision. It’s getting to that stage now where I think for me and everybody it’s about action.
“We’ve taken the knee, we’ve had individuals not taking the knee, teams not taking the knee. I think what people want to see now is action.
“I think the SFA are supporting this and it’s something that the staff as a whole are going to be fully behind the players a lot of the time in what they decide.
“But, going back to the Rangers game, I thought they dealt with the incident really well, really strong from the manager and the club in supporting Glen.
“I’d just like to think it’s about that action, it’s about strong punishments where people are found guilty.”
The SFA announced yesterday that Livingston midfielder Marvin Bartley and Scotland international Leanne Ross would join its Equality Advisory Board, which will meet today.
While there is focus on the immediate changes that can be made, Reid hopes wider structural change within the game can be implemented.
He said: “It’s about more diversity in leadership roles, in organisations, in administration roles, with decision makers, rather than a protest here and there.
The Equality and Diversity Advisory Board has welcomed @LiviFCOfficial midfielder @dothebartman1 and @GlasgowCityFC & former Scotland midfielder @Leanne_Ro55 on board as Scottish FA Equality Advisors.#FootballUnites pic.twitter.com/J1EHAYLa3E
— Scottish FA (@ScottishFA) March 22, 2021
“I think it’s at the stage now where it’s up to an individual in my opinion. I think at the time there was an issue with people not taking the knee any more, or taking the knee or individuals deciding not to.
“Now it’s purely about action which is something I think we all want to see.
“People are sick to death of the abuse, it’s freely on social media sites now and with the ease in which it seems to be a weekly occurrence, the abuse of players.
“Something really meaningful needs to be done now. It obviously gets a little bit emotional with that one.
“But people want to see real action and I think we’re all sick to death of the abuse and online abuse which people are receiving almost on a daily basis.
— STEVEN REID (@stevenreid12) November 14, 2020
Scotland coach Reid is thankful he has not had to deal with many instances of discrimination himself and limits his time on social media, which raises its own issues.
He added: “It’s almost a stage now where it can feel like there’s a blame put on the victims, like ‘why are you on social media?’ It’s not the case at all.
“There needs to be more emphasis put on the abusers. What can we do to try and actively stop these accounts from being made and people being held accountable.
“But, yes, I try to limit my own personal use of social media because it seems to open yourself up to stuff like that.”
