A friendly match between New Zealand and Qatar held in Austria was marred by allegations of racism against a player of Qatar as the All Whites abandoned the match by refusing to come out onto the field for the second half. It was the second game to be abandoned on Monday, with Ireland's football association saying its under-21 team had abandoned a match against Kuwait's Olympic side after a Kuwaiti player used racist language toward an Irish substitute.
According to the official statement from New Zealand Football (NZF), the incident took place in the 40th minute of the match and decided not to continue after the players reported the incident, but no official action was taken.
"In the 40th minute of New Zealand vs Qatar game today in Austria, a Qatari player used a racial slur towards All Whites defender Michael Boxall after a confrontation between the two players. The racial slur was heard by several New Zealand players, including Boxall. The players reported the incident, but no official action was taken," New Zealand Football (NZF), the country's governing soccer body, said in a statement.
The player who was allegedly racially abused is the captain of Major League Soccer (MLS) team Minnesota United and is half-Samoan. He was involved in a confrontation with one of the opponent players after the All Whites took a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Marko Stamenic goal in the 16th minute. Referee Manuel Schuttengruber had a long discussion with New Zealand captain Joe Bell and soon after blew for half-time.
The decision received the full support of the NZF CEO Andrew Pragnell. “We fully support the action of our players, who agreed collectively this course of action. We never want to see a match abandoned but some issues are bigger than football and it is important to make a stand. There is no room for racism in football.”
Meanwhile, in another incident, the Ireland football association (FAI) released a statement saying that a player of their Under-21 team was also at the receiving end of a 'racist remark by a Kuwaiti player after which their match was abandoned.
"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," the FAI said on social media.
Ireland were leading 3-0 when the match was abandoned by the Kuwait FA released a statement of their own refuting Ireland's claim. "The match did not reach completion due to excessive roughness and tension between the players. The match was stopped by the referee in the 70th minute to protect the players from potential injuries."
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