• The Ghanaian spent two years in the Russian Premier League
• He is now with Nordsjaelland FC as a youth coach
Former Black Stars midfielder, Laryea Kingston has opened up on his racism encounter with referee Steve Conroy during his time in the Scottish Premier League.
Laryea Kingston spent three years in the Scottish Premier League with Heart of Midlothian from 2007 to 2010 after playing in the Russian League for years.
The former Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder has said that the racist abuse he suffered while playing in Russia made him very defensive and that showed in his encounter with referee Steve Conroy after he was sent off in a game against Aberdeen back in 2007.
He stated that it was those painful experiences he had in Russia which were still fresh in memory that caused him to overreact to Conroy's call.
Read Laryea Kingston's narration on racism in an interview which was reported by dailyrecord below:
“In my time with Hearts, I didn’t experience any racism or comments against me. Before Hearts, I was playing in a country where racism is huge – over in Russia. I experienced it there, so after moving to Scotland I thought, ‘Wow, this is a place that is accepting’. I really enjoyed my time there and experienced no racism whatsoever.
“There was one time something happened between me and the ref Conroy. I felt he treated me unfairly but because I’d just come from Russia, I was very defensive.
“So, anytime I felt like I’d been treated unfairly, I tried to defend myself or say something back to the person I was receiving abuse from. That’s the only time I thought that.
“Afterward, he explained to me that his wife was black and he didn’t mean it that way. That made me feel I’d got it wrong. But throughout my stay in Scotland, I felt only positive energy towards me as a black person.”
You can also watch this week's episode of the Friday debate on GhanaWeb TV with Joel Eshun in the post below:
