SCOTTISH FOOTBALL’S RACIST SHAME
1988 Mark Walters suffers racist abuse at the hands of fans including on his debut against Celtic.
He is subjected to monkey noises and fans throwing bananas in his first match, at Celtic Park, and against Hearts at Tynecastle. 1996 Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk is targeted a number of times during his time in Glasgow – by fans and opponents. As well as being sent razor blades in the post, and being spat on by another fan, he is racially abused by Rangers goalie Andy Goram and the stopper saved the Dutchman’s penalty. Recalling what happened, Goram later said he called him “a non-white, unclean, non-Protestant with no father”. 1999 Rangers captain Lorenzo Amoruso admits abusing Borussia Dortmund’s Nigerian striker Victor Ikpeba during a European tie. The Italian called Ikpeba “a black b ****** ” and said afterwards: “I was involved in an incident with Ikpeba and words were exchanged between us. “However, in a highly charged match it is not unusual for tempers to boil over and I do not remember making the remarks.” 2003 Celtic stars Bobo Balde and Momo Sylla are booed by Rangers fans when they touched the ball during a Hoops victory. After the match, Rangers chairman
John McClelland vowed to root out the racists responsible, telling the Daily Record: “I do not condone this kind of behaviour, I deplore it.” 2008 Former SPL ref Mike Ritchie is charged over claims he called Rangers striker Jean-Claude Darcheville “a black b ****** ”. 2010 St Johnstone fans are accused of making monkey noises at Celtic’s South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-yueng.
Hoops teammate Cha Du-Ri says: “I played for eight years in Germany and I have never seen anything like that. The incident is shameful.” 2013 Former Kilmarnock playmaker Mehdi Taouil is racially abused by his own fans while playing for Hearts against St Mirren in Paisley, weeks after the attacker, who was born in France but represented Morocco, took part in workshops for primary school children with charity Show Racism The Red Card.
2018 An Aberdeen fan is caught on camera racially abusing Celtic’s Scott Sinclair as he prepared to take a penalty in the League Cup final.
After the video of the fan calling him “a f ****** black b ****** ” emerged, Sinclair tweets: “Absolute disgrace for the ignorance of the uneducated fan shouting racial abuse.” 2020 Rangers manager Steven Gerrard says abuse aimed at his striker Alfredo Morelos is proof that racism is still a problem in Scotland.
Gerrard says: “It seems as if racism is still a problem, certainly in this country.” 2021 Killie manager Alex Dyer, Kelty Hearts striker Nathan Austin, Morton striker Gozie Ugwu, Airdrie defender Rico Quitongo, Livingston defender Ayo Obileye and new Celtic stars Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda are racially abused abuse on or off the pitch.