A Partick Thistle legend has warned that strict Brexit regulations are preventing Scotland’s leading clubs from tapping in to the wealth of talent that exists in asylum seeker and refugee communities around the country and putting them at a disadvantage to their counterparts in major football nations across Europe.
Many players from displaced backgrounds performed brilliantly for their adopted homelands during the World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer and highlighted the huge benefits of integrating migrants into professional set-ups at an early age.
Alphonso Davies, the Bayern Munich and Canada full-back whose parents fled from the civil war in Liberia to Ghana before he was born, and Antonio Rudiger, the Real Madrid and Germany centre-half whose family originally hail from Sierre Leone, were just two of many from displaced backgrounds who excelled at the tournament.
In stark contrast, Scotland, who lost to Morocco and Brazil in the group stages and failed to progress to the knockout rounds, did not have one in their 26-man squad.
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Gerry Britton, the former Thistle striker, manager, academy director and chief executive, is now the chief operating officer with Street Soccer Scotland, the award-winning charity which uses football to help people who are struggling with social exclusion, homelessness, mental health challenges and alcohol and drug abuse.
Britton comes in to direct contact with asylum seekers and refugees on a daily basis in his current role and he firmly believes that a lot of them would be more than capable of playing professionally if they were handed the opportunity to do so.
“Many of the guys that we work with have got incredible talent,” he said. “Some of them are phenomenal in fact. They are 100 per cent good enough to play at senior level in Scotland.
“We take a Scotland side to the Homeless World Cup every year. When I first went over to Seoul in South Korea a couple of years ago I thought it would be like me and my mates playing five-a-sides. But I was totally wrong. It is really intense, the standard is extremely high.
“Richard Kone, who represented the Ivory Coast in the Homeless World Cup in 2019, is now playing for QPR and has also been capped by his national team. So, as I say, the talent is definitely there among these guys.
“The problem that they have in Scotland is that they’re living in a hotel or a hostel. They don't have the means to feed themselves and look after themselves properly never mind play football. So they're up against it from the start. On top of that, they aren’t allowed to work until they get granted full status.
“When I was at Thistle, Mouhamed Niang [the current Clyde defensive midfielder] was with us. He joined us when he was a young age. But he was in the asylum system for about two years and because of that we weren’t allowed to sign him on a full professional contract.
“We had to wait until he was granted status even though his family, who had moved from Senegal to Springburn in Glasgow when he was about eight or nine, had been granted status. That was because of his age and the Home Office regulations at the time.
“That was a missed opportunity. He couldn't compete during his formative years. He lost two or three years at a very important stage in his development. He only came in to our academy quite late on, when he was maybe 15. The fact you can’t sign a professional form until you get status is a barrier.”
Britton added, “But it's even harder to get these players into a club in the United Kingdom now post-Brexit. There was freedom of movement within the European Union before, but that has been taken away. It's even harder than it was before if clubs want to sign someone from overseas.
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“The old stipulations were they had to be internationalists and they had to have played a certain number of games for their national team, even if it was at age group level. But it's even stricter now.
“I've not been involved in any applications for a few years now, but what I hear from the guys I know who are still working in the pro game is that it's far tougher now and that makes it even more difficult.
“But it does happen to a far greater degree in other countries and they prosper as a result of that. Not just at senior level either, at age group level. I do think something has to be changed to allow it to happen more here because these guys have made Scotland their home and they're going to stay here. It is in our interest to help them to develop and reach their fullest potential.”
Britton, who also turned out for Celtic, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Raith Rovers and Livingston during his 18 year playing career, felt that competing with and against foreign footballers improved him both technically and physically.
“Way back in the past, a good 30 years ago now, the Bosman Ruling happened and that led to a rise in players from other countries coming here,” he said. “That wasn’t plain sailing and it wasn't welcomed at the start.
“But in time people appreciated the skills these players brought to the Scottish game. Ultimately, too, it pulled the rest of us up. I am sure the same thing would happen if more players from displaced backgrounds got involved in the game here.”
The 55-year-old, who completed a law degree after he retired from playing and had a spell working as a criminal defence lawyer before he returned to football, disagrees with the often unsubstantiated claims which are made about the impact of immigration by right wing politicians and protesters.
He is proud to be involved in the work that Street Soccer Scotland do with asylum seekers and refugees at their 20 centres across the country.
“You hear a lot of people criticising why these guys come here,” he said. “But if you actually heard about the circumstances which led them to come here you would come away with a different perspective.
“The journeys these guys have been on are extraordinary. The stories they tell you about the camps they have been in over in Africa, in Italy and in France as well as the actual boat journeys they have been on to get to the United Kingdom are harrowing.
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“They have told me about standing in dinghies unable to move with people dying next to them. Nobody would choose to do that unless they're absolutely desperate. Plus, there are reasons they're doing it. They come here for safety.”
Britton continued, “The rise of far right rhetoric in recent years has impacted on every one of them. They're not blind to what's happening around them. They're the ones who are dealing with the reality of it on the streets on a day-to-day basis.
“They're the ones who are being accosted, abused and assaulted simply because of their country of origin or the colour of their skin. But if people really took the time to get to know the guys who are coming in and heard why they have come here they would change their opinions.”
Britton has certainly seen first hand how some of the Scots who attend Street Soccer Scotland drop-in sessions have changed their entrenched attitudes towards migrants as a consequence of taking part in matches with and against players from countries like Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Vietnam.
“We work with players from all backgrounds,” he said. “We've got players who are still within the refugee system, we've got players who have been granted leave to remain and full citizenship, we've got players who are staying in temporary accommodation, be it hotels or hostels.
“We help to get them out of the hotel or hostel and give them something to focus on, give them a bit of structure to their week. Very often, there's not a great deal going on for them. We look after them really well and give them every opportunity because they deserve it.
“What we do is totally inclusive. We work with anybody who's been socially excluded for any reason, addiction, homelessness, poor mental health, whatever. We try to provide a community of support around players who have been put to the margins of society. It doesn't matter to us if the isolation is caused because they are seeking asylum or because they are long-term unemployed.
“We get everybody involved and use football as a starting point for personal development. But football's a huge part of it. The guys really enjoy it and they all feel the same. At the end of the day, football's a universal language. It breaks down every barrier. You don't need to be able to communicate with the guys in your team or the guys who you're playing against.”
Britton continued, “Don't get me wrong, we have seen attitudes in our players in our regional programmes which have needed tweaked a bit, a couple of years ago especially when the asylum system was probably focused mainly in cities around Scotland.
“People are scared of what they don't know. But when they get to know these guys, when they play football with them on the pitch, they quickly appreciate that we're all the same. They understand that there's absolutely no difference between a guy from Edinburgh or Eritrea. I just wish we could see more of that throughout the country at the moment.”
