I WASN'T surprised when I heard monkey chants being directed towards Jason Scotland at Motherwell the other night. It doesn't matter how many initiatives you set up, how much good work the Show Racism The Red Card people do, you will always get a minority who will resort to racist abuse as a means of upsetting opposition players. These sort of people will pick on you for being black, Chinese, Welsh, English or whatever, just to try and draw a bad reaction.
As one of the few native black players who have played senior football in this country, I have had to develop a thick skin and constantly rise above whatever comments people make about the colour of it. I shouldn't have to, but tell me what would be
the alternative?
What encouraged me about last Wednesday's Fir Park incident is that other Motherwell fans seemed instantly to round on those making the noises, and demanded action from police and stewards. It isn't always like that. Monkey chants have been aimed at me and I've looked over to see where they have been coming from only to see stewards laughing. Half of them are happy to run with the crowd because it makes their life easier.
I know too from experience that some do take their responsibilities seriously, and understand how socially unacceptable racist abuse has become. I tend to get mentioned whenever there is this kind of incident at any Scottish football ground because when I was playing for Hamilton in September 2002, a Forfar fan and then an Albion Rovers supporter were taken to court for comments directed at me in consecutive weeks.
To be honest, I was laughing my face off as stewards and police moved in on this Forfar man in his 70s who had been shouting at me. It felt like I was in a scene from Till Death Us Do Part or Love Thy Neighbour when he kept barking "ya bloody nig-nog" at me.
I didn't want him charged, he was an old man, but the Rovers fan who racially abused me the next week deserved all he got. He was horribly aggressive and hit me with a venomous barrage as I jogged down the tunnel at the end. I caught a glimpse of him, and it just summed up how thick he was that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with a policeman.
I attended Airdrie Sheriff Court as a witness in his case and was first asked if I could recognise him. In all honesty I couldn't, so the question moved on to how I knew he was directing his racist bile at me. I didn't see any other black faces on the park that night, I replied. I think he was given 200 hours community service, and he warranted that punishment for his actions. I hope the Motherwell fans that shamed their club and our game in midweek are caught and dealt with similarly.
I haven't had many problems before or since that week five years ago. I played for Airdrie in the game last September when supporters of my club put on Ku Klux Klan masks as Gretna's black substitute Matthew Berkeley came on to the field, but it wasn't until after the game I became aware of the incident. If I had seen it at the time I would not have let it pass. I don't know who was responsible, but there is every possibility these people would think nothing of doing that then posing for a photograph with me afterwards.
Never have I allowed any racist comments to get me down. It is not in my nature, but I know that other victims are more sensitive and these players shouldn't have to develop a coping mechanism. Mine is simply to see my singling out for this treatment as proof these fans fear I could be a threat to their team. I use their stick as motivation. As a striker, the best way to answer them is to score. I was delighted to see Jason Scotland doing just that the other night.
I always play with a smile on my face, but I make sure I develop an even wider grin if any punter shouts something about the colour of my skin. The worst thing you can do is to show these people you might be getting riled because then you become a victim. I am a mouthy sort, but I don't feel that the option of giving them an earful is open to me.
Having grown up in the schemes in Glasgow's Royston, I can handle myself. If someone called me a black so-and-so or whatever in a social situation, I would offer to step outside with them and take care of the problem that way. Not only could I not do that in a football context but, for all the understanding extended to players who suffer racist abuse, if any one of them responded by dishing out verbals to a crowd they might be accused of inciting a riot.
I have a great deal of sympathy for clubs over how you deal with the whole issue. Short of standing a committed steward beside every fan in a ground, you will never be able to stop objectionable comments coming from the mouths of supporters in the heat of the moment at a game. I think a lot of the time people aren't even fully aware of how vile the things they say are. And I mean all sorts of stuff that goes beyond skin colour and is just straight unacceptable, aggression-fuelled abuse.
Clubs can do no more than give their full backing to Show Racism The Red Card and other such initiatives, and constantly promote the message that they will not tolerate racism at their grounds. I don't think Motherwell could have been more forceful in their condemnation of what happened and there is no doubting the sincerity of the disgust expressed by both their chairman John Boyle and his manager Maurice Malpas. It was a terrible thing to happen, but I think Motherwell emerge with a great deal of credit over how they have reacted - both in terms of their support and the major figures within their club.
I do not think we have a widespread problem with racism in our game. In dressing rooms and on the park, I have encountered very little that has made me uncomfortable. The Albion Rovers incident apart, even any racism directed towards me from the stands has never truly got under my skin.
I think we have made great strides in the past 20 years and we only need to think back to what happened when Mark Walters first arrived in Scotland in 1988 to see how far we have come. No black player will ever suffer the banana-throwing and widespread monkey chanting he suffered in his early weeks here. Absolutely nothing like that will ever happen again in Scotland. Far from every other fanatical football country could say that with confidence.
