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Show Racism The Red Card Wants The Governing Bodies To Explain Their Silence On The Scott Sinclair Incident.

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Earlier in the week, I published a piece on the continuing scandal of the SFA’s silence in relation to the racist abuse levelled at Scott Sinclair. It’s been almost three weeks since the game now – we’re on Day 19 – and they have uttered not one word of condemnation for the racists or in support of the player.

They have made no broad sweeping statement on how unacceptable racism is in Scottish football.

They have failed the player, our club, and the wider anti-racism agenda.

Put bluntly, their silence has been a disgrace.

I have no idea what goes on inside Hampden.

The SFA and the SPFL have agendas which are baffling and they appear to have no interest in genuine reform.

Their PR is abysmal.

They make no effort to properly engage with supporters on any issue of substance.

A guy I’m good friends with told me last year that, contrary to what many believe, Darryl Broadfoot had been doing an excellent job and was interested in finding ways of reaching out to more of the supporters, and not just those of the national team.

But of course, Darryl is no longer with the SFA and whatever plan there was has been binned.

In the end, their media department can only work on the priorities outlined from above, and the chief executive’s office is where the buck stops. Had he wanted to make an anti-racism statement and slam that unacceptable conduct he could have drafted a press release and it would have been out there the same day.

Nearly three weeks have elapsed, and whatever they say in response to this now is too little and too damned late.

But in the article earlier in the week I also said that Show Racism The Red Card in Scotland had failed to respond to my email on the matter.

I wondered whether the issue was a priority for them.

I want to apologise to them for that, because I can now tell you that I was wrong on that score; in fact, they’ve been paying very close attention to this situation and they were well ahead of my email to them on the matter.

In fact, before I got in touch with them they had already asked both the governing bodies, the SFA and the SPFL, when – or if – they intend to issue a statement on this matter and they aren’t in the least bit impressed with the silence out of both organisations.

They are concerned.

And I suspect they are angry.

What is truly shocking is that neither the SFA nor the SPFL has bothered to respond to their repeated inquiries, although I’m told that will change tomorrow, when they do expect to hear something from the Association.

When I know more I’ll post it here, and if the SPFL responds I’ll post that too … but for now I can tell you, unequivocally, that Show Racism the Red Card are asking the same questions we are, and that our concerns are shared there.

The Scottish branch of the organisation is small – numbering less than a half dozen staff. They work incredibly hard and I’m told the last few weeks have been particularly stressful.

For all that, as I said in the earlier piece, they were on the ball with this and were the first major organisation to comment on the abuse Scott got, tweeting their dismay and condemnation shortly after the game was done.

And they have not been idle on the issue since.

I took issue with the way Sevco tried to turn a Show Racism event earlier this week into a PR exercise which sought to burnish the reputation of their club after a disastrous two weeks; in fact, the event was organised in advance of the Scott Sinclair incident, and whilst I do believe that the club used it as a reputation polishing exercise Show Racism The Red Card were comfortable with their handling of it, because it kept the issue in the public consciousness, as they continued to seek answers from the governing bodies.

They deserve immense credit for not letting this drop.

It’s also worth noting that, in relation to the incident itself, Sevco issued a statement at full time on the day, making it clear how shocking they found the incident.

Whilst I would have welcome a more fulsome condemnation of what went on in the stands, that particular issue was tackled head on.

They too deserve praise for that.

The condemnation of those clowns in the stands was almost universal.

Nil By Mouth issued a statement on the day.

The PFA had one out a few days later, supporting their player.

All these organisations nailed it on this one.

They made it clear that this is unacceptable conduct and spoke with a single voice.

And on top of that, it would be remiss of me not to point out that Sevco didn’t simply comment once and let the matter drop either.

Their goalkeeper Wes Foderingham made his own feelings on it absolutely clear days after the fact, and others at the club were on hand to say that those attitudes don’t belong in football or anywhere else.

I know for a fact that Celtic has supported Scott in public and in private, both by helping push the anti-racism message and in making their own inquiries.

No-one outside Hampden, and who has a stake in this, is happy to simply let this matter drop.

Which makes the silence all the more disgraceful.

Scott has received messages of support and solidarity from organisations far and wide.

Except for the two who run football here.

The night last week when he stepped up to win the PFA Player of the Year and Sportswriters Player of the Year awards would have been a perfect moment – albeit later than we would have liked – for the SFA and SPFL to have commented, and given him their unequivocal support.

The night passed without a word from them.

None of us was asking for them to shut down Ibrox, or impose sanctions, or anything like that.

This wasn’t about punishing people, although I have raised other issues arising from that game including the lax stewarding arrangements, sectarian singing and the throwing of missiles at our players; these matters belong in the purview of the disciplinary committees, if they can be bothered.

Nearly three weeks on we’ve yet to hear a peep out of either organisation on those matters.

The much vaunted “delegates report” is yet to see the light of day, which considering a fan got onto the pitch and attacked one of our players is scandalous in itself.

No, this wasn’t about any of that.

It was about the complete absence of any support for Scott or acknowledgement that these instances of racism even took place.

It was about, it is about, the utter failure to condemn the people responsible, and remind football fans not just here but across Europe and the world that such incidents are unacceptable, even criminal, and have no place in a football ground and I thought, not without justification, that this was something on which all of us were agreed, and I had expected a statement to that effect.

In the first article I wrote on this – and there have been a half dozen now – I highlighted the swift response of the English FA when Spurs’ striker Son Heung-min was racially abused at Millwall; they opened an immediate investigation into the incident.

They dealt with it immediately.

The silence from our own “leaders” is incomprehensible, and if and when they do finally comment it will be even more scandalous if they try to hide behind some pitiful excuse. It does not require a referees report or the end of police inquiries to issue a statement saying racism has no place in a Scottish football stadium, and if they attempt to deflect by using one of those issues as a shield it will be an insult to all our intelligence.

The simple truth is that they are lax and lazy and incompetent and unprofessional.

They have roughly the same feel for PR as the Trump administration, and a fraction of its sense of responsibility.

These organisations are led by men of such low quality, in whom trust long ago evaporated but who we had a right to expect would have been all over this one, that I understand full well why they don’t resign in disgrace; these are the last major roles either Regan or Doncaster will ever fill because only a mug would hire them in light of what’s happened in the game here in the last five years.

What I find harder to understand is why the clubs continue to tolerate them.

If the game had people as committed to holding them to account as Show Racism The Red Card have been then we’d all be in a better place, and the game would be in a better state.

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