The Republic of Ireland Under-21 friendly against Kuwait Under-22 was one of two international matches abandoned on Monday due to allegations of racist abuse.
The Football Association of Ireland have announced that their game in Bad Radkersburg, Austria ended prematurely in the second half with Jim Crawford’s side leading 3-0.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s game against Qatar, coincidentally also in Austria, was abandoned at half-time when New Zealand refused to take to the pitch after no action had been taken. was taken following an alleged racist remark.
The FAI posted on Twitter: “The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark 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 report this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA.”
In a statement later posted on Twitter, the Kuwait Federation revealed that Kuwait Olympic Football Team Manager Jarrah Al-Ateeqi said the match “was not over due to brutality and excessive tension between the players”.
The Kuwait Federation said: “Al-Ateeqi explained that the game was stopped in the 70th minute to protect the players from injury, especially since the main objective of the game is the friction and preparation of the players before the conclusion of their camp and return to the country.”
The governing body added that Al-Ateeqi “praised the players’ discipline and commitment throughout the camp.”
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 substitute at the half time.
Crawford spoke out in March after members of the Ireland Under-15 squad were subjected to racist abuse online, prompting the FAI to call 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 later they fought back to match draw 2-2 with the Ukrainian U21s.
Meanwhile, at Ritzing, New Zealand refused to continue their game against Qatar after an alleged racist remark towards defender Michael Boxall.
NZ Football tweeted: “Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half of the game by a Qatari player.
“No official action has been taken so the team have agreed not to go out for the second half of the game.”
The incident happened shortly before half-time, resulting in a signaled scrum on the pitch before the teams entered the interval with the All Whites leading 1-0.
FIFA stresses ‘zero tolerance’ policy
FIFA will take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach if allegations of racism that led to two friendlies being abandoned are proven true.
A FIFA spokesperson said: “FIFA is awaiting official reports before deciding on the next steps.
“FIFA has a zero-tolerance policy against any form of discrimination, as the FIFA President emphasized last week.”
Gianni Infantino said last week that referees should stop matches if there are incidents of discrimination.
“It’s very important not just to talk about racism and discrimination, but to act decisively and convincingly – zero tolerance,” Infantino said. “There’s no football if there’s racism – so let’s stop the games.”
Infantino made the remarks after meeting the Brazil squad in Barcelona, including Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior who has faced repeated racial abuse in Spain this year.
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