Paul Elliott was subjected to racist chants when he joined Celtic in 1989 and lost little time in embarking on an educational crusade. By the time he moved to Chelsea, in 1991, he had won the title of Scottish Player of the Year and supporters' hearts.

A brutal challenge that caused severe damage to the ligaments in his right knee forced him out

of the game in 1994. It was then that he turned his attention to another aspect of the game entirely and devoted his time to the Let's Kick Racism Out of Football campaign.

Now Amnesty International is turning its attention to the racial and religious hatred associated with Scottish football. The human rights group is organising Scotland United, a five-a-side football fundraising tournament on May 3. It has also developed a Team Up Against Racism e-postcard campaign, which calls on all 42 Scottish Premier League, First Division, Second Division and Third Division clubs that make up the Scottish Football League to fully implement the Uefa Ten Point Plan of Action Against Racism.

''Action is urgently needed to tackle racism in the game and protect the human right of freedom from discrimination,'' says Amnesty's Liz Walsh, who is

co-ordinating Scotland United.

Elliot will launch the campaign today along with The Proclaimers, under-21 youth coach Rainer Bonhof and SPFA representative Fraser Wishart.

''There's a fantastic amount of good people in Scotland, but raising awareness makes people realise how awful it feels,'' says Elliott, adding that racism was not a

factor in his leaving Celtic, which was for ''personal and professional reasons''.

He sees campaigning against racism in football as part of his duty to the game that has given him so much. ''I was among the first generation of black players trying to make their living from football in this country and I took the view that it was par for the course for

me to do my bit to raise awareness of racism.''

From his visits to schools and meetings with young footballers, he detects cautious grounds for optimism. ''I can put my hand on my heart and say it has got better. There is far greater acceptance now that we are in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic world. Over 20% of players in England are from ethnic minorities and we are beginning to see black players coming through into the administrative side of the game. Individual clubs have taken a lot of responsibility for new initiatives to deal with the problem from the grass roots. Although that is beginning to work, there is still a long way to go.''

Endorsing Amnesty's Scotland United tournament, he adds: ''Scotland is a wonderful country, but it has the same problems as everywhere else. The most wonderful thing about football is that it can bring everyone together.'' His knees, he claims, will no longer allow him to take part himself, but he'll be on the pitch in spirit on May 3.

Amnesty International's Scottish office hopes widespread support for the Uefa Ten Point Plan of Action Against Racism from the grassroots of football in Scotland will persuade all 42 clubs to take a much more public stand against racism. They should, for example, print a statement that they will not tolerate racism; take action against people who chant racist insults in all programmes; and take disciplinary action against players who engage in racist abuse.

Amnesty is recruiting 48 teams to take part in the Scotland United tournament. All are guaranteed five games of 15 minutes each and their entry fee of (pounds) 120 per team will be refunded if they raise (pounds) 350 in sponsorship. The team that raises most sponsorship will win seven tickets to a World Cup qualifier in September.

Entry forms for Scotland United are available from Amnesty International on 0131 466 6200, or

e-mail scotland@amnesty.org.uk E-postcards can be signed at www.amnesty.org.uk/scotland