Football clubs praised for uniting against racism in special match

Haddington Town AFC and Wallyford Bluebell FC joined forces on Sunday to show their opposition to racism by holding a special pre-season friendly match.

Players at both Lothian and Edinburgh Amateur Football Association (LEAFA) clubs have allegedly been racially abused on the pitch in the last six weeks.

Present at Sunday’s game at Fisherrow was former Hibernian FC and Portsmouth FC star Kevin Harper and representatives of the Show Racism the Red Card charity.

Jordan Allison, from the anti-racism education charity, applauded the clubs for taking a stance. He said: “We were delighted to be invited along to the match between Haddington Town and Wallyford Bluebell FC.

“We’d initially reached out to the players and both clubs to commend their amazing response to their recent experiences of on-the-pitch racism.

“What we saw on Sunday was an incredible display of solidarity that sends a strong message to anyone who chooses to use racist language: you are not welcome in our game.

“We now have to use this positive movement to encourage the league bodies and associations across the country to take the lead in eradicating racism from the sport.

“As an education charity, we want to work proactively with players, coaches, refs and volunteers to help them recognise, challenge and report racism.

“It is a great credit to the teams and their managers for the way they have handled this.”

At the end of last month, Wallyford Bluebell were playing Clermiston Vale in the last 16 of the FN TeamWear Cup.

It is alleged that a player from the Edinburgh side made a racist comment towards centre-back Kamran Tufail, known as Pinkie.

Then, just weeks later, Tony Ip was allegedly racially abused during a friendly between Haddington Town and East Calder CFC Amateurs.

Wallyford Bluebell's Kamran Tufail (blue) and Tony Ip (red), of Haddington Town, have both been victims of alleged racist abuse on the football pitch in recent weeks. Picture: VF Sports Pix

Matty Thomson, co-manager of Haddington Town, was hopeful the weekend’s match would help send out the right message.

He said: “The fact this is still going on in 2021 is absolutely ridiculous.”

Mr Thomson said that the team, who begin their new season this Sunday, were “quite a close-knit group” and when the abuse happened to one of their team-mates it hit close to home.

Positively, the match has attracted plenty of interest on social media, with the co-manager hopeful it would hammer the message home.

Rod Learmonth, coach and club secretary at Wallyford Bluebell, felt the issue of racism had gone on for too long in football.

He noted that Rangers midfielder Mark Walters had bananas thrown at him on occasions during games in the late 1980s and racism was still a problem all these years later.

But Mr Learmonth was pleased with the amount of coverage the recent alleged racial incidents had attracted.

Pinkie had played for Livingston, as well as Haddington Athletic, but it was only in the amateur ranks that he had been the subject of abuse.

Mr Learmonth said: “It’s disgusting, genuinely disgusting.”

The Wallyford Bluebell coach pointed to the attention the incident had received on Twitter, with several other amateur clubs backing their colleagues.

He said: “That’s really what I wanted.

“I wanted a big support for Pinkie.

“He was thinking of packing the game in and I wanted the follow-on to get teams talking about it and [racism] cannot be happening.”

Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, was at the match, which finished 3-2 to Wallyford Bluebell.

The politician, who previously coached with Hibernian FC’s youths, is keen to see the issue raised in the Scottish Parliament and has arranged a meeting on August 10 with representatives from Hibs, Hearts, Scottish Football Association (SFA), Show Racism the Red Card and Nil By Mouth – Scotland’s leading anti-sectarian charity – as well as representatives from the various grades of football in Scotland.

He said: “It needs to go deeper, especially on the back of the Euros where three black English players were abused.”

Both racist incidents involving the two county clubs were reported to LEAFA to investigate.

League secretary Chris Lowrie, meanwhile, announced this week he had stepped down from the role following a period he described as involving “some of the most difficult situations imaginable in the amateur game”.

In a statement posted on the LEAFA website, he said: “Sadly with the events that have unfolded, having already informed the president, I now inform the membership that I resign my post as secretary with immediate effect.”

He said he realised it was the “very few” who were responsible for such behaviour in the game but that he could “ill afford to be dragged into the mire that is sadly a reflection of society as a whole”.