john barnes and ian wright were some of the biggest stars of the day.h figures were few and far between. chris iwelumo and kevin harper are both black players who came up through the scottish system. our reporterjonathan mckeith met with them to talk about what it was like to come up as a minority. i remember walking out against dundee and there was a father and he had a son and daughter in his hands and the names that he was calling me, it was calling me the big black b, and this and i was in shock. how old are you? i was 17 years old. racism was all too familiar even just at the start of his career and it wasn't just on just at the start of his career and it wasn'tjust on the terraces. just at the start of his career and it wasn't just on the terraces. the manager, a person of authority, somebody that you had complete respectful speaking to like that. i never played against another black footballer from under 12 to under 18 is. paul elliott, mark walters, ian barnes, that's who i was out in the playground. i grew up in cal man and i was the only black

ian wright, john barnes, that's who i was, out in the playground, you know.n, north of the border. when you delve into the history books, there is something which isn't widely known. it was scotland which in 1881 gave football its first black international player. andrew watson, depicted here in recent weeks to preserve his legacy, and alljust a short distance from scotland's national stadium. watson captained the country in a landmark 6—1 victory over england, but it would be more than 120 years before another black player represented the men's team. this month, the scottish football association launched a number of initiatives to combat racism and promote equality. former hibernian player kevin harper believes it should be a priority. at that time, there wasn't many black scottish kids that came through the ranks. for there not to be as many coming through in football, there must be, there must be an issue there. to have that steady stream of good quality players, there has to be a grassroots thing. pulling on thejersey, you know, singing the national anthe