WES Foderingham's question-and-answer session yesterday with local schoolchildren from St Saviour's Primary School was in the diary long before a young man from Ayrshire called Paul Kenny was pictured making monkey gestures behind his goal in last month's Old Firm match.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper has been an ambassador for 'Kick It Out' for the last three years or so, but considering the events in Govan last month it was timely that he should drop into the Rangers Study Centre yesterday, behind the opposite end of this stadium, to patiently educate young people on equality and diversity in the company of Paul Mortimer, the body's Professional Players Engagement Manager.
While the object of last month's abuse was Celtic's Scott Sinclair and not him, the incident must have brought memories flooding back of an incident at a Morecambe v Swindon Town match in April 2012.
Read more: Wes Foderingham 'disgusted' by behaviour of racist Rangers supporter
Foderingham was walking to the Swindon team coach afterwards when he was accosted and racially abused by a 16-year-old boy. For a few seconds, he was lost for words. Then, when he calmly turned things back on his abuser, it was he who was out of answers.
"It was after the game, I was walking back to the coach and he said: 'Go back to your own country'," Foderingham recalled. "Obviously, I was born in England, in London. I was angry but I didn’t act angry towards him. I didn’t approach him in a confrontational manner. I just asked him what we was thinking and he couldn’t give me an answer. It was difficult to deal with at the time, though, and until something like that happens to you I don’t think you can know how you will react. I reported what happened to the groundstaff and the coaching set-up. But if something did happen beyond that, I didn’t hear about it."
Thankfully action has been more swiftly conducted - by the law and the club, with indefinite bans - this time around. But once again, says Foderingham, the key thing in matters such as these is communication. As these primary school kids learned yesterday, a little bit of mutual understanding goes a long way to undermining intolerance and prejudice. Foderingham has personally experienced no racism since moving to Scotland two seasons ago but he would love to sit down with Sinclair's abuser and get to the bottom of it.
Read more: Wes Foderingham 'disgusted' by behaviour of racist Rangers supporter
"I’d ask them what they were thinking," said Foderingham. "I’m sure they couldn’t even tell you what they were thinking. So it’s difficult. Without raising awareness and speaking about it openly, you are never going to get an answer. But there have been massive strides and improvements made in the last 50 years and I hope that continues.
"I wouldn’t say it [racism] a massive problem, especially up here," he added. "That was the only time I have personally experienced racism on a football pitch and since I’ve moved up to Scotland the fans have been brilliant. But you can see the impact it has. All I takes is one fan.
“That’s why we do campaigns such as ‘Kick It Out’. When Rangers hold these type of days it can only help. About six to eight months after the incident at Morecambe I was approached by Paul who asked me if I wanted to come on board and I was delighted to."
It would be remiss to have Foderingham here and not talk about matters on the field, though, where the goalkeeping situation is one of the few areas of the field not apparently being scheduled for personnel change under Pedro Caixinha this summer. Other news coming out of Ibrox yesterday included confirmation of the release of Clint Hill and Billy Gilmour agreeing to move to Chelsea in return for £200,000, but Foderingham is keen to keep progressing in a club which is destined for European football next season.
Read more: Wes Foderingham 'disgusted' by behaviour of racist Rangers supporter
"Goalkeepers are going to make mistakes and I'm no exception to that," he said. "The key is to try and not make many of them. But I feel I've done well this season and progressed so I'm just looking to continue improving next season. Hopefully I'll have European football to do that as well. If we can get into the Europa League then that would be another challenge in my personal development.
While the short passing game of Mark Warburton would occasionally put him under strain, Caixinha is happy for him to go long if need be - a philosophy which ultimately earned Barrie McKay a crucial assist in the come-from-behind win against Partick Thistle. "With this regime if you can play out you play out but if you can't you go long," he said. "There is no right or wrong, it's just different ideas and a difference of opinions between managers. What you have to do is follow the manager's instructions and believe in what he's bringing to the table."
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