Ireland Under-21 match against Kuwait abandoned amid allegations of racist abuse

19 June 2023 , 21:48

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The FAI issued a statement after the abandoned match

The Republic of Ireland Under-21s’ friendly against Kuwait Under-22s was abandoned after one of the Ireland substitutes was allegedly the target of racist abuse.

Monday afternoon’s game at the Parktherme Arena in Bad Radkersburg, Austria was brought to a premature conclusion in the second half with Jim Crawford’s men leading 3-0.

The Football Association of Ireland posted on Twitter : “The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark was made by a Kuwaiti player towards one of our substitutes.

“The FAI does not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff and will be reporting this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA.”

Ireland led 2-0 at the break after early goals from Ollie O’Neill and Conor Carty, and extended their advantage seven minutes after the restart through Aidomo Emakhu, making his debut after being introduced as a half-time substitute.

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Crawford spoke out passionately in March after members of Ireland’s Under-15s squad were racially abused online, prompting the FAI to brand the perpetrators’ actions “vile and horrific”.

Monday’s game came at the end of a training camp in Austria designed to prepare them for September’s European Championship qualifiers against Turkey and San Marino, and four days after they fought back to draw 2-2 with Ukraine Under-21s.

Meanwhile, in Ritzing, also in Austria, New Zealand refused to take the field for the second half after no action was taken over alleged racism in their friendly against Qatar.

NZ Football tweeted: “Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half of the game by a Qatari player.

“No official action was taken so the team have agreed not to come out for the second half of the match.”

The incident occurred shortly before half-time, leading to a reported melee on the pitch before the teams went in for the interval with the All Whites leading 1-0.

Press Association