Match called off after racist abuse claims

Bitter rift as cruel taunts go ‘a step too far’.

Two amateur football clubs are at loggerheads over claims a player who calls himself “Chink” was racially abused.

Players from Tam’s Bar allege teammate Stuart Cairns was subjected to vile taunts from spectators during a cup tie against Fife rivals Bar Toro. The referee was alerted and the match was abandoned and the police called in.

But players from Bar Toro have rubbished the allegations and accused their opponents of deliberately getting the game called off because they were losing by three goals.

The row allegedly centres on the fact Cairns uses the nickname “Chink”. Onlookers claim spectators on the opposing team’s sideline used this to repeatedly goad him about his ethnicity. It’s understood Cairns complained to the referee at half time and asked him to contact the police. Following the call, the ref brought the game to a halt.

But Wattie Moodie, disciplinary secretary for the Fife Sunday Amateur Football League, accused Cairns of “playing the racist card” to help his team. He said: “The player asked the referee at half time if he could call the police. He gave the phone to the laddie who spoke to them for five minutes.

“The police then asked the referee if he heard anything and he said he hadn’t but that things were getting a bit heated. They told him to abandon the game.”

Mr Moodie said the referee’s official report of the match, held at Randolph Park, Kirkcaldy, did not substantiate the racism allegations.

“The nickname of the laddie who is supposed to have got the racist abuse is Chink. He calls himself Chink. When he goes up to header a ball he shouts, ‘Chink’s ball’. He’s not Chinese he’s Scottish.

“One of the substitutes from the other team thought he had handled the ball and shouted, ‘Chink handballed that’ and then the laddie started playing the racist card.

“The team that were getting beaten 30 looked to try and get the game abandoned. The committee is going to talk to the two clubs but there’s nothing racist in it.”

The incident occurred during a JS Anderson Cup tie and has caused a bitter rift between the teams. Players from Tam’s Bar, from Methil, took to football forums and Facebook to vent their anger.

One said: “The other team’s fans were calling Chink a yellow belly and all that so he told the ref and the ref phoned the police.”

Another insisted Cairns hadn’t complained about being referred to as “Chink”. But he declined to comment further until the issue had been resolved by the league.

However, a player from Bar Toro, which is in Kirkcaldy, responded: “There was nothing racist said. They just wanted out of the game because they were losing 3-0.”

Last night hotel worker, Cairns, 26, denied any false claims of racism. He said: “I was called Mr Miyagi several times, after the Karate Kid character. I complained to the ref twice in the first half when the score was nil-nil.

“Chink was a nickname I got in primary school and it stuck, but Mr Miyagi and the other cruel taunts were a step too far.”

The league’s match secretary John McCombie said the issue would be discussed at a committee meeting on October 15.

He added: “All we can do is talk to the two teams involved. Unless the referee reports it, there’s not a lot of action we can take. No-one else has come forward to make complaints.

“I’ve spoken to the player and he told me what was said and who he thought was saying it, but we haven’t got any evidence other than that. I told him we’d have a word with the team involved and all the teams in the league.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said their enquiries into the incident were ongoing.