THE venue is level six of Hampden Park’s main stand where the movers and shakers of Scottish football live during the day.
Except on a drab Glasgow morning, there isn’t much moving or indeed shaking being done. Everyone's head down is down as they beaver away in silence. Everyone that is except one woman who bounds across the room and grabs my hand with joyful enthusiasm.
Karyn McCluskey introduces herself and I immediately conclude she is the most positive person who has ever walked the face of the planet. I like her straight away.
Good job, then, that the SPFL appointed McCluskey to their board; her job to achieve something that many before her failed to do. She is going to make Scottish football a better place for the ordinary supporter.
It’s a simple enough task. All she has to do is bring an end to sectarian singing, change atavistic attitudes that have been lingering for well over 100 years, make our grounds welcoming anyone regardless of class, sex, race or religion.
Like war on terror, crime or drugs, this seems like an honourable battle but one that cannot be won. McCluskey knows her job won’t be easy – but if anyone can do anything about the more unappetising behaviour which continues to happen at football matches in the country, it just might be her.
“The SPFL actually approached me last year," she said. “They sent me background stuff and lots of it was about young people being involved in sport, activities and all manner of things. That is what I do day-in, day-out. I try to get people to aspire to something better, to get involved, to do something. I thought it would be really interesting. Do I have any expertise in football? No I don’t. But I don’t think that’s why they are asking me.”
So why then are they asking McCluskey, a former nurse and qualified forensic psychologist who hails from a Falkirk council estate?
Well, in 2005 she set up Strathclyde Police's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), now operating as the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit. The remit was to tackle the 170 street gangs that existed in Glasgow. It was said at the time that among the 3500 gang members, hundreds were as young as eleven. These boys, and they are mostly young males, were only going one way.
Every six hours in the city, someone suffered a serious facial injury, mostly from knife crime. McCluskey hasn’t finished that battle but she has been winning for a long time now. Recorded crime in Scotland is at a 40-year low. The job she has done is a phenomenal one,
“I work with hundreds of kids in some of the most deprived areas and they love football, which sets the mood music for Scotland,” McCluskey tells me. “I am relatively aspirational and if you want things to change you can do it. It is all about what draws people in. It is welcoming, you want to bring your kids and feel it is a pleasant atmosphere.
“It is everybody’s responsibility. We all tend to point at one person as if to say it’s up to them. But when you point one finger, three fingers point back at you. You can’t police your way out of this, or leave it to board members, this has to be about everyone."
Ah, but football is already too sanitised. That is what people, those who actually go to games, will tell you. Back in the day you could sing what you wanted, there was no kettling, no facial recognition and nobody was going to jail for a song no matter how offensive.
McCluskey said: “I can’t comment on what their experience was 20 years ago. But we have changed, haven’t we?”
Well, yes and no. Society has changed regardless of what some would have you believe, but our national game does bring out the worst in us. Take a look on social media, hold your nose and see how some football rivals, or enemies to be more exact, talk to one another. It isn’t very nice.
“Loads of people are going to revert to type, especially when they are in a group,” said McCluskey. “For me, if you really want kids, women and a wider section of the public going, things have to change.
"Do I have all the answers? No I don’t. Will I listen to people? Absolutely, I always do. I love speaking to people. If I can bring something that is slightly different then great.”
A problem for her, as if there is only one, is that people do not like to be told how to behave. For example, and playing devil's advocate, why shouldn't an otherwise upstanding member of society, with a job, who pays their bills and doesn’t drop litter, go to a game and act like a mad person for a few hours?
But there are plenty who don’t want their kids to hear this stuff in 2016. Many now choose to stay away. Will it ever change?
“Going back ten years ago now, when I was trying to reduce violence, people said to me that it was too big and not to bother," she said. “Then they gave me a cup of tea and a biscuit. I never went back to see those who said that. It can be done.
“People fuel the flames of sectarianism. It still occurs. How stupid it would be of me to ignore that. But there is a whole list of other issues out there with regards to racism and sexism, which goes through society.
“I meet people with those views all the time. Your job is to challenge them. I always bring the kids in. If I had a bunch of kids beside you, would you still do it? What is it to be a good man in 21st century Scotland?”
Well, there is a question many need to ask themselves in the year 2016, especially those who go to the football. Because in my experience, far too many choose not to behave.
As we leave, I wish her good luck. She is going to need it, although Karyn McCluskey might just exactly be what Scottish football needs.
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