Anton Ferdinand sends class social media message to Celtic captain Scott Brown

By John McGinley

March 22, 2021

Former defender Anton Ferdinand has sent a class social media message praising Scott Brown for embracing Glen Kamara before yesterday’s derby match at Celtic Park.

Brown showed solidarity with the Rangers midfielder, who has alleged that he was the subject of racist abuse on Thursday night against Sparta Prague.

Celtic disregarded rivalry yesterday to show unity against racism and other forms of bigotry. It was great to see and deservedly praised by thousands of supporters of both clubs.

It seemingly made waves outside of Scotland too, with Ferdinand clearly delighted to see the two clubs send a strong message.

He said, on Twitter yesterday afternoon: “To see the Celtic captain Scott Brown go and speak to Rangers player Glen Kamara before the game was great to see. A powerful message that is… RACISM IS BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL. UEFA it’s your turn to lead by example, we are waiting…”

Last year, the BBC broadcast a revealing programme titled “Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me”, taking a look at the incident involving John Terry and Ferdinand when the duo played in the English Premier League.

Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 for racially abusing the former QPR man during a match. [BBC]

When promoting the programme on social media online, Ferdinand was later subjected to racist abuse by users on Instagram, so he’s well aware of the issues at hand here. [Sky Sports]

Anton Ferdinand has spoken out against racism in football before / (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

Clearly, he feels the efforts of Celtic and Rangers yesterday were important.

More important though, as he points out, is authorities like the Scottish FA and UEFA doing all they can to combat bigotry in the game.

In other news, Luca Connell has given his first interview after moving from Celtic to Queen’s Park on loan.