The soul-searching and disgust that marked the treatment Scotland received shows how much progress has been made in less than twenty years, but was this just an isolated incident? It was certainly far more vitriolic twenty years ago, but there is evidence to suggest that the racist abuse of Jason Scotland may not have been the isolated incident some believe it to be. Brian McPhee signed for Dumbarton this June. The veteran striker had been on the receiving end of racism in Scottish football just five years ago when playing for Hamilton Academicals in 2002 McPhee was the victim of racist abuse twice in consecutive weeks. Both perpetrators were prosecuted over it. The first was a seventy-year-old Forfar fan and the other was an intellectually challenged Albion Rovers supporter. “The Rovers fan who racially abused me the next week deserved all he got,” McPhee wrote in an article published by Scotland On Sunday in March. “He was horribly aggressive and hit me with a venomous barrage as I jogged down the tunnel at the end. It just summed up how thick he was that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with a policeman.”

While McPhee thinks that great progress has been made over the last twenty years, the battle is far from over. There are even non-incidents to consider. In January 2001 Motherwell’s then left back Steven Hammell was told that he was going to be prosecuted for breach of the peace that consisted of racially abusing Mohammed Sylla, then playing for St Johnstone during a match at McDiarmid Park Stadium on December 23^rd 2000. Hammell was reported by St Johnstone fans. He was devastated by the accusation, which he strenuously denied. The match had certainly been competitive, but the pair shook hands afterwards. Hammell left Motherwell for Southend in the summer of 2006.

On any view this case was bizarre. Sylla never complained that he had been racially abused by Hammell. The claim was made by St Johnstone fans who claimed to have overheard it. In February the charges were dropped. Sylla had only been the victim of racist abuse in Scotland once, but Hammell was not responsible. The culprits were two St Johnstone fans. Sylla put it down to drunkenness on their part and that he had recently their club for Celtic. Sylla left Leicester City for Kilmarnock during the winter transfer window. He is currently seeking a new club.

Late last season I travelled to Scotland .  There were no racist incidents to report, but while the fight against racism in football is very important, it is not the major issue facing Scottish football. That is undoubtedly sectarianism. And there were no sectarian incidents either in a week that fierce rivals Rangers announced an initiative against sectarianism that would be tested the following day at St Mirren’s Love Street Stadium.

“There are clubs with a history of sectarian behaviour,” says Mr Mitchell, “but I think that they recognise themselves that this summer is very much the watershed when they have to keep their noses clean.”

Rangers had finally had enough of the sectarian behaviour of some of their fans. Manager Walter Smith left the national team to take charge of Rangers again. Smith believed that Rangers’ future and that of Celtic was outside of Scottish leagues. He thinks that for the Glasgow giants to continue to develop they need to be part of European super-leagues, that could be in the second division of such a league, but for that to happen sectarianism had to be defeated, so why did this need to be addressed now?

“There are clubs with a history of sectarian behaviour,” says Mr Mitchell, “but I think that they recognise themselves that this summer is very much the watershed when they have to keep their noses clean. The Villarreal game was a watershed in terms of fan behaviour at Rangers because after the home leg at Ibrox the investigator sent by FARE [Football Against Racism in Europe] submitted a report to UEFA, the outcome of which was a hefty fine for Rangers and a warning that if there was any repeat of this they would be banned from Europe. Now that had a monumental impact on Rangers and their supporters realised that things were getting serious now. Previously Rangers were playing away in Europe and singing obscure songs with arcane language which nobody outside of Glasgow or Scotland would understand, so they were singing these songs – whether in a Catholic country or Protestant country –because that was seen as their tradition in inverted commas and there was no, or very little, restraint on that. Now that they are realising that they are under the microscope they have to tone down what they are singing, or be very careful about what they are singing, because it will be examined.”

Rangers introduced an initiative on sectarianism. They asked their fans not to indulge in sectarian chanting or singing. And they asked their supporters to report any fans who continued the ‘tradition,’ so how effective was it.

The first test of Rangers’ initiative was the club’s visit to St Mirren’s Love Street Stadium on April 8^th 2007. “It was a good start,” said Rangers manager Walter Smith after the match against St Mirren.

“Well, there are initiatives,” says Mr Mitchell, “but they tend to focus on sectarianism, because sectarianism is a far bigger cancer in Scottish football and it has been pervasive for many years, not just Celtic and Rangers, but other clubs have been affected by it and are working very hard to counter that and that is making headway, so if clubs are concerned about discrimination, their focus has very much been on sectarianism, rather than on racism, simply because that is perceived as the bigger problem.”

The problems of sectarianism in a European context were laid bare by both legs of Rangers’ tie against Villarreal and Rangers have realised the extent of the problem it poses, but what about Celtic? It was only one match but I couldn’t detect any trace of sectarianism when Celtic entertained Motherwell. The Irish folk song ‘The Fields of Athenry’ has been adopted by Celtic fans.² Some claim the singing of this song to be sectarian. Celtic fans vigorously dispute this. “It is not sectarian,” says Celtic fan Joseph – not his real name. “It is not a religious song or an anti-Protestant one. It is about a man driven by poverty into stealing corn to feed his family during the Great Famine of 1845-49 in Ireland and transported to Botany Bay for it.”

“Well, there are initiatives,” says Mr Mitchell, “but they tend to focus on sectarianism, because sectarianism is a far bigger cancer in Scottish football and it has been pervasive for many years, not just Celtic and Rangers, but other clubs have been affected by it and are working very hard to counter that and that is making headway, so if clubs are concerned about discrimination, their focus has very much been on sectarianism, rather than on racism, simply because that is perceived as the bigger problem.” So what does the SFA think is the biggest problem facing Scottish football today and why?

“In Scotland our big issue is sectarianism,” says Mr Mitchell, “because a small group of people making monkey noises in Scotland is seen as a one off event. The other side of that is that thirty-thousand Rangers fans chanting ‘Fuck the Pope’ or singing ‘Up to our knees in Fenian blood,’ or whatever is the big problem here and that is what we are working very hard to counter. We actually went to the Scottish Executive for an action plan on sectarianism. That is the issue UEFA and Rangers were working on. We are working very hard against it simply because that is by far the biggest problem facing us.” But while Scotland confronts discrimination, especially in the form of sectarianism, other countries face different forms

“Discrimination is a problem in many different societies and if you speak to UEFA, racism is a big problem in some countries like Spain,” says Mr Mitchell. “Here we have sectarianism. In eastern Europe there is often sectarianism against ethnic minorities in their own grounds, so discrimination per se is a big problem, but what form that discrimination takes can vary from country to country.”

Sectarianism is the form of discrimination that is of primary concern in Scotland. Racism also rears its head occasionally, but it is clear that the SFA and indeed Scottish clubs see sectarianism as by far the greater threat. In some eastern European countries sectarianism itself can be racist.

“Discrimination is a problem in many different societies and if you speak to UEFA, racism is a big problem in some countries like Spain,” says Mr Mitchell. “Here we have sectarianism. In eastern Europe there is often sectarianism against ethnic minorities in their own grounds, so discrimination per se is a big problem, but what form that discrimination takes can vary from country to country.”

Both UEFA and FIFA hold Rangers up as a positive example of a club determined to tackle the problem that threatens its future. And the SFA joins in that praise. “On the sectarianism front Rangers have tried to develop a policy across the Protestant/Catholic divide,” says Mr Mitchell. “They have imposed a large number of life bans on supporters who have been identified and found guilty of sectarian behaviour.” And Rangers is not alone in taking such action. “Generally speaking it is by the clubs,” he says. “If there is a criminal prosecution that has an effect as well, but the clubs themselves have taken that action off their own back, because they have the right to decide who can come into the stadium or not.”

Scottish clubs, led by Rangers, are fighting back against the menace of sectarianism. There is still a long way to go. Rangers visited Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the opening fixture of this season on August 4th. Their travelling supporters spoiled a convincing 3-0 win with sectarian chanting. The Glaswegian club escaped punishment this time, partly because of its efforts to tackle the problem, but it was warned by the Scottish Premier League (SPL) that further indiscretion would not be tolerated. Despite placing stewards among its supporters, who reported some individuals for unacceptable sectarian conduct nobody faces prosecution. Rangers could have faced points deductions as well as a fine. Further offending could result in relegation. “The SPL has made clear what is expected of clubs and I am pleased that the board has recognised the substantial efforts this makes in tackling unacceptable behaviour. This decision does not mean that offensive singing and chanting will be tolerated,” said Rangers’ Chief Executive Martin Bain. “Unacceptable behaviour at the match in question has been condemned not just by this club, but by every major Rangers supporters’ organisation and it is in everyone’s interests this type of behaviour is eradicated.”

In 1999 top lawyer Donald Findlay QC was fined £3500 and forced to resign his position as Vice Chairman of Rangers for singing sectarian songs after a cup final victory over Celtic. In July 2007 he was cleared of bringing his profession into disrepute by telling sectarian jokes at a Rangers function in 2005. But while Findlay is a relic of Rangers’ sectarian past, the club itself is determined to leave sectarianism firmly in its past. But how and why did sectarianism find an outlet in Scottish football? An interesting question, but one that will have to wait for another day.

2 ‘The Fields of Athenry’ was written in the 1970s by Irish folk singer Pete St John, although some claim that a ballad version was published in a broadsheet in Dublin in the 1880s – a claim disputed by St John.