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27th November 2006

Where are Scotland’s ethnic minority footballers?

Just occasionally, an interviewee turns interviewer. In conversation with Kevin Harper last week, the black former Hibs player threw up a question of his own. "Fourteen years after [I made my debut for Hibs] and there are more black, mixed-race and Asian people in Scotland then ever. So why has not one player come through at a Scottish club in that period?"

The rhetorical nature of the inquiry meant that he did not expect a reply. Which is just as well, because I did not have an answer. That said, nor did Harper, who has been plying his trade in the English leagues for the past eight and a half years. "It is something I'd like to find out about," he added.

Scotland may have come a long way since the days of Mark Walters, the black winger who joined Rangers in 1987 and had bananas thrown at him during an Old Firm game, but there is no room for complacency. Scotland has never produced a Scottish-born black player.

Andrew Watson, the Queen's Park player who won three caps in the early 1880s, was born in the then-British colony of Guyana. Nigel Quashie, who made his debut in 2005, was born in England. Harper came close to achieving the historic landmark in 2003, but Berti Vogts, then Scotland manager, left him on the bench. Paul Wilson, a former Celtic player of mixed-race descent, was capped in the mid-1970s. No Asian player has ever been capped.

So where are all the second- and third-generation black, Asian and mixed-race footballers? Does their absence reflect a lingering under-current of racism in Scottish society? Or are there other reasons? More importantly, is anything being done to address the shortfall?

In Scotland's case, the most prominent ethnic minority group in society is Asian. Show Racism the Red Card, the anti-racist campaign group, has responded to the lack of Asians and other ethnic minorities in professional football by formulating a capacity building scheme. They are currently working towards an agreement with professional clubs to provide facilities and coaching for multi-cultural teams. The scheme was piloted last season at Livingston with encouraging results. Glasgow Ansar, the club which was formed in 2001 to provide a sporting platform for ethnic minority youths on Glasgow's south side, were provided with coaching and training facilities at Almondvale stadium.

There was interest in some of their players, one of whom is now in the Queen's Park youth system and harbours ambitions of entering the professional game, though he remains an isolated example. "We have sent out questionnaires to the professional clubs about extending the scheme and have had a great response," said Zoobia Aslam, a campaign worker for the group. "We would hope to strike an agreement with them which would allow us to establish the scheme in the central belt, to begin with."

The Asian question, in particular, was restored to the agenda a few years ago through Jaz Juttla, born in Glasgow of Indian descent. He was on Rangers' books, but failed to make the grade and is now playing for junior side Johnstone Burgh. Had he broken through at Ibrox, he may have been the catalyst for the emergence of more Asian youngsters.

In Rangers' case, the club regularly scouts Asian leagues at the weekend and have many youngsters in their community programmes. Ibrox hosted the UK Asian football Championships earlier this month and dovetailed it with an outreach programme extending into the city's Asian communities. In time, they hope to integrate these programmes with their mainstream ones in an effort to draw even more into their system.

It is often argued that cultural barriers are an obstacle to assimilating young Asian football talent. Some say there is a desire among ethnic minority communities to keep themselves to themselves: in short, that they do not make an effort to integrate. The Old Firm clubs, though, point to the changing demographic of their support base as evidence that there is a willingness towards integration on both sides.

The influx into the central belt of asylum-seeker children is an area where ethnic minority groups have already started to feed into the grassroots. Celtic have a couple of recruits at under-13 and -14 level in their academy who they have high hopes for. Cherif Lancine, a 15-year-old asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast, is also in the first year of a professional contract with Rangers.

Lancine, who is supported by the state and has no family in Scotland, was spotted playing football with friends on a red blaes pitch in Glasgow. "We have found that children from asylum-seeker backgrounds do tend to join clubs and get involved in sports," added Aslam. "It doesn't matter where someone is from or the colour of their skin, if they can score goals then clubs will be interested."

Harper's question does not have a simple answer. Insularity on the part of ethnic minority groups may be an obstacle to integration but so, too, is complacency among the white majority. Pioneering initiatives like the one being set up by Show Racism the Red Card offer an opportunity for both sides to work towards achieving a greater racial mix on the football field. The opportunity must be grasped by all.

Source: The Herald