I was called a black fenian- Mark Rutherford

Mark Gallagher (Ireland On Sunday Soccer Correspondent)

MARK Rutherford ran into Tolka Park old-timers last week, men who remembered him as the callow teenager that first arrived on these shores as a Birmingham City loanee in the early nineties.


'They said to me "are you still around?" When I first came to Shelbourne, it was only meant to be a holiday, it was only a one-month loan spell. That one month has become 14 years.'

Fourteen years and still there are new chapters to write. When the Eircom league's fourth season of summer soccer begins this coming Friday, Rutherford will be part of the St Patrick's Athletic team that play Waterford United at Richmond Road, meaning he will have played for all four major Dublin clubs.

Summer soccer isn't the only change Rutherford has witnessed in the past decade and a half. The league is unrecognisable from what he once knew. He recalls his early Shelbourne days, being unable to sprint down the wing because the pitches were swamps.

'Yeah, the pitches have got a lot better,' the winger laughs. 'When I first came over, we would play on some really dreadful pitches.

'Pitches where you would be up to your knees in mud and it was impossible to dribble on. I played in an awful lot of games that should have been called off. Surfaces have really improved, there is not that many games called off anymore.'

Surfaces and the football quality might have improved, but the crowds have barely improved, something that has continually frustrated Rutherford throughout his career. 'When you play in a Dublin derby, there is a full house, but then the next week, the stands are all empty again and you just wonder where these people go.

'Some clubs have great support, Cork, I just love going down there for the atmosphere and Drogheda are building a good sort of community spirit with this club. That's the one thing that I would love to see changing, more people coming to the games.'

One of the other major changes is that Rutherford no longer stands out because of the colour of the skin. In the early nineties, he was one of the few black players and was back in Tolka last week to relate those experiences to kids in the launch of Show Racism the Red Card campaign in Ireland.

The racism, what there was of it, always came from the terraces. He never experienced it on the pitch. And some clubs were worst than others. 'I used to get ! some stick when I first came into the league. Some clubs were bad. Dundalk for some reason were probably the worst. Going to Oriel Park, you were always called all kinds of racist names.

'It was only a minority, and I even remember going to Dalymount Park once, before I played with Bohs, and getting some stick there. But it was usually only 20 or 30 fans, people just thinking of ways to put you off your game. It never did, though. For a lot of fans back then, it was probably their first experience of seeing a black player.'

Although this is currently a country wrestling with its conscience over race, Rutherford doesn't feel it is a problem within the domestic game. 'It was always a minority. Perhaps I should have done more when I first encountered it, but I was young and naive, so I let it go. In hindsight, I should have complained but I didn't.'

He wonders, though, if that would have made much difference and cites the example of Russell Payne, when he was keeper of Rovers, complaining to the league about receiving racist abuse and nothing been done to the offending club.

'It is not really that much of a problem anymore. Last season, I didn't hear anyone chanting anything. A couple of seasons ago, you would hear the odd shout. But I remember being at Richmond Park, I think, a few years ago and some supporters chanting something and other people in the crowd turned around and stood up to them. That's what we need, people to confront them.'

Of course, Rutherford arrived into a different Dublin. These days, as he walks around Lucan, where he lives with his partner Melaine and their twin girls, nobody gives him a second glance. It was a different story in 1991. 'Yea, when I first came over, you could go two or three days without seeing another black guy. If I saw another black guy on the street, they would stare at me. I remember being on the bus, and these little kids, five and six years old, staring at me.'

Rutherford grew to become a cult hero at Shelbourne, helping their club to their first league title in 30 years in his very first season. Ollie Byrne, who had moved Rutherford into a home with friends of his in Tallaght, rewarded the winger with a decent contract.

'Ollie convinced me to stay. I owe him everything,' Rutherford says of the larger-than-life Shels chairman. 'It is because of him that I am 14 years here. People see the bad side to him but they miss the good side, Ollie has a big heart and looks after people.'

There followed seven years pockmarked by the odd success and some failures. Twice, the Tolka outfit lost the league on the last day. He won a couple of cup finals, lost a couple of cup finals and played almost 20 times in Europe with the Drumcondra club.
‘Shelbourne was my best experience. I was there for seven years, enjoyed every minute of it.' Rutherford even nabbed a goal against Rangers in the UEFA Cup when Shels famously went 3-0 up before disintegrating and conceding five goals in 20 minutes.

A couple of seasons in the north with Newry Town followed, where Rutherford experienced the unique racist chant of 'you black Fenian bastard' before Roddy Collins brought him back down south-for a season Bohemians fans will never forget.

Fifteen points behind Shelbourne in the league when the foot-and-mouth crisis hit, Collins instigated an intensive training programme at Dalymount. They returned to not lose a game and snatch the title. Another league title followed under Stephen Kenny before Rutherford was lured by the history and tradition of Shamrock Rovers. Last season, of all his seasons in the league, leaves the biggest knot in his throat when he talks about how a proud club has fallen.

'That was just a bad experience, on and off the field. The way things were run affected the players. The club was in such a state. Last season was the lowest point of my career. It is still hard to believe that they won't be in the top division. It is great that the supporters have taken control of things there.

In Pat's, he's joined a team in transition. Since being deducted 15 points in 2002, over the Charles Livingstone Mbazaki debacle, a punishment that cost them the league, the club have been in a tailspin, riddled with debt.With the capture of Rutherford and the return of Trevor Molloy, they hope to turn a corner. The winger has been in the league long enough to know that every season throws up a surprise package.

He has taken quite a journey on this prolonged holiday and it's not over yet. Occasionally, he casts his mind back to the time he was in the England under-18 squad alongside the likes of Chris Sutton, Steve McManaman and Andy Cole.

'That was a great experience, although Bobby Robson was coaching us and I was never as terrified in all my life. I look at that team, most of them are millionaires now.'

He is not one to focus on what might have been, he was on standby for Jamacia in the 98 World Cup. Instead, looking forward to what can be for St Pat's, just to make his mark on yet another Dublin club.