Derek McInnes and members of the press shared a hearty chuckle when discussing Kyle Lafferty’s return to the field. The Kilmarnock manager humorously reported that Kyle was doing jumping jacks just outside his office and had even brought him breakfast as he prepared to rejoin the squad.
All very innocent on the face of it.
However, Kyle’s absence from the past ten football games takes on a sinister cast when you consider the reason for it.
The ex-Ibrox man was asked for a picture by someone in a pub. When they went to take the picture, the fan shouted “Hail, Hail” and the star recoiled in response. After a moment, he was comfortable enough to refer to the person as a “fenian b**tard”.
The player was brought before the Scottish Football Association (SFA) for the incident, and Kyle was only given the bare minimum punishment for the offence – which was a mandatory 10-game ban for breaching a rule which forbids the use of insulting language which includes reference to the likes of ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion or belief.
Fate would put Kyle’s first game back for Kilmarnock against Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup on Saturday.
At the press conference, McInnes was questioned regarding Kyle’s return and his response was inappropriate considering the ban had been put in place for a serious offence.
The reaction of Kilmarnock’s manager and the media to this incident provides insight into how Scotland and its football culture handle these kind of offences.
There is no doubt that if Kyle’s suspension had been for something branded racially motivated instead of sectarian, Derek would have been less vocal when talking about Kyle’s return to the team.
I am not suggesting that Derek was deliberately promoting sectarianism or Kyle’s comments. Rather, I am emphasising that the culture in the game enabled Derek to describe Kyle’s return in positive terms and Derek didn’t feel the need to be more subdued in when talking about a player who has just come off a very serious ban.
There is an alarming level of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment in Scotland that is frequently disguised as Sectarianism and used to deflect from its true scope. This oppressive notion is pervasive in Scottish football and is far more serious than just a rivalry between Celtic and Rangers – but it’s still treated as such.
Scottish football has a long history of back-and-forth jabs, but Kyle’s recent comments demonstrate a lack of understanding of the potentially harmful implications of such rhetoric, especially when coming from a professional footballer.
The Northern Irish international expressed regret after receiving the ban; however, it is uncertain whether he or anyone else recognises the significance of the situation. Hopefully, this experience will prove to be an eye-opener for him – but my heart says, it hasn’t.
