The game‘s the thing

Watching Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers play Slavia in the Europa League in March this year was a painful business. The first leg was dominated by fouls and bad play; the second leg was worse. It reached its lowest point with a flying kick on the Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolaře which fractured his skull, but somehow the match became famous for the alleged racial comments reportedly made by Ondrej Kudela to Rangers‘ Glen Kamara, which led to a ten match ban for the Czech player.

The latest controversy was the recent Europa League tie between Sparta and Rangers, where again the Czech team won, but racism was the main theme for the media. The accused were the children who attended the game, because adults were banned…