Scots should be proud of fight against racism, says FIFPro’s Tony Higgins

THIS weekend marks the second high-profile weekend of support for Show Racism the Red Card and, while the English equivalent has been panned by players, Scotland should be proud of their campaign according to FIFPro’s Scottish Board member Tony Higgins.

The 58-year-old players’ union leader was a bustling forward at Partick Thistle, Morton and Stranraer before becoming chairman of the Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association and that led to him becoming involved on a worldwide stage.

However, he keeps a watchful eye on his homeland and Higgins said: “Not only do FIFPro endorse Show Racism the Red Card, I take a personal interest in it as a lot of the campaign was developed here and is now used elsewhere. The model is popular as it generates high exposure for a low cost and, while we should be proud of what has been achieved, we should not be complacent.

“You can never stop working in this area. England is one of the leading countries in the fight against racism and you would not have predicted the problems they have experienced. You would have thought that problems between players were gone but they have popped up and taken everyone by surprise. That is why you can never be complacent.”

South of the border, the English FA’s Kick it Out campaign has attracted headlines as a number of players, such as the Ferdinand brothers, Rio and Anton, opted out of supporting it. Higgins can understand their reasons for doing so. “The campaign in Scotland is funded by a number of diverse organisations such as local authorities, the Scottish Government and unions,” he said. “That independence is a key difference between the Kick it Out campaign and Show Racism the Red Card. The FA have a very cash-rich league and, by and large, they fund the Kick it Out campaign on a very grand scale. The downside is that it is then seen as an appropriate vehicle for players after the FA’s involvement in the John Terry and Luis Suarez issues.”

Higgins added: “I feel a bit sorry for the Kick it Out people, but there is a lot of unhappiness with the FA. In saying that, the players’ anger may well have been better directed at the FA and not the charity.”

One incident that highlighted the continuing problem of racism recently was the treatment of England under-21 players in Serbia last week. For Higgins, it was like being transported back in time. He said: “What was evidenced in Serbia was a throwback to what black players suffered in the 1970s and 1980s. In Scotland, racism in football has, thankfully, been reduced to a small number of minor incidents but, in 1983, Ruud Gullitt received a lot of abuse playing for Feyenoord in Paisley against St Mirren because of his colour.

“Two years later, I went to a Rous Cup game when Scotland played England and Viv Anderson got the same treatment and it was embarrassing. In Scotland, we had always taken the view that racism was an English problem but here it was at our National Stadium. I wrote to [a national] newspaper’s opinion page about it and they published the letter, with people then asking me what I did it for, as I was creating a problem when there wasn’t one.”

But Higgins said football in Scotland had moved on. “We had issues when Mark Walters and Paul Elliott arrived but the situation improved as more black players played here and campaigns such as Show Racism the Red Card educated people.”