Ki must back up Scottish racism claim with evidence

In a place where people will know the alleged offence you are complaining about, and may learn something from your complaint? Or somewhere else, where your audience may merely be baffled?

By any rational standards, there is a pretty obvious answer to that one. No matter the nature of the abuse directed at you, it is invariably better to try to deal with it locally. Any offenders are more likely to be punished, any bystanders more likely to learn.

From that point of view, then, Ki Sung-Yeung's explanation of his goal celebration in the Asian Cup is a curious one. After scoring against Japan in the semi-final, Celtic's South Korean midfielder scratched the side of his face in what was interpreted as a 'monkey' gesture.

Some Japanese viewers took exception, interpreting Ki's action as racist. The two countries were able to co-operate as hosts of the 2002 World Cup, but they have not always enjoyed harmonious relations. Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century was often brutal, and it is understandable that there should be some lingering resentment.

But the Japanese furore had scarcely had time to get started when Ki explained he had not intended to offend his opponents at all. Instead, his action was a comment on the racist treatment he said he had experienced in Scotland, especially at away matches.

One game at St Johnstone, in particular, could have been the focus for his protest. Back in November, some Saints fans made barking noises at Ki; others chanted 'Who ate all the dogs?'

The Perth club promised to investigate, and many Saints fans were quick to condemn the behaviour of their fellow- supporters.

On one chatroom, a supporter hit back at the claim that the chanting and barking were just banter, suggesting it was the equivalent of making monkey noises at Saints defender Michael Duberry, who is black.

Now the precise nature of racist abuse is obviously secondary to the offence itself, but as far as can be discerned that posting on a chatroom was the only mention of monkey noises in relation to the McDiarmid Park match. If Ki wished to make some kind of ironic protest about his treatment in Perth, why then did he not make a gesture about dogs rather than monkeys?

Of course, there may have been other incidents in which he was subjected to abuse.You could only categorically say they had not occurred if you had been in the home section of the crowd at every Celtic away game - and even then if you had particularly acute hearing.

But, if there were such incidents, they have not received widespread attention. And certainly neither Ki nor his team-mates have chosen to draw attention to them before now.

So let's be blunt. It looks very much as if the Celtic player made a gesture which was beginning to cause offence, and belatedly sought an explanation which would deflect the blame away from himself. A particularly implausible explanation.

We should be wary of trying to seize the moral high ground, as if the very suggestion that racism might exist in Scottish football were absurd. Racism is a problem throughout society, and football has not miraculously cleansed itself of that problem.

But the sport has at least gone a long way to addressing racism and related issues such as sexism, as the sacking of TV commentator Andy Gray has shown.

Only last week, for example, a Show Racism The Red Card conference was held at Easter Road, with the leaders of the country's five main political parties being joined by footballers past and present. The pressure group is now part of the mainstream, and carries out valuable educational work with the active help of many of our clubs.

Compared to the 1970s and 1980s, when racist and sectarian behaviour was accepted as part of the social fabric, we are now in a far healthier position where such behaviour is branded as unacceptable.

A new generation of fans are growing up for whom multi-racial teams are the norm, and racist abuse the moronic exception.

In other words, if Ki is unhappy about the treatment he has received since joining Celtic, he can be assured he will receive a sympathetic hearing. Not just from his own club and supporters, but from organisations such as Show Racism The Red Card, from the vast majority of other supporters, and indeed from the footballing authorities and the police. Racism is one of the most severe threats to social order that we face at present, and serious accusations of racist behaviour will be dealt with seriously. But there can be no place for mud-slinging, or for random accusations from an individual desperate to get himself out of a diplomatic fix.

If Ki has evidence of racism against him in Scottish football, he should produce it. If he does not, he should withdraw his claim that a strange little goal celebration was in fact a political protest against his treatment here.