New Zealand to raise racism concerns with FIFA after abandoning Qatar match following alleged racist slur
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Published 20/06/2023 at 12:02 GMT
New Zealand's Michael Boxall allegedly suffered racist abuse during a friendly game against Qatar. The incident led to New Zealand abandoning the match at half-time after "no official action was taken". NZF CEO Andrew Pragnell said it was "important to make a stand". A Republic of Ireland Under-21 game against Kuwait was also abandoned after an alleged racist comment.
New Zealand's Michael Boxall
Image credit: Getty Images
New Zealand Football (NZF) plan to contact FIFA about protecting players from racism after abandoning a friendly against Qatar at half-time following an alleged racial slur.
The NZF said a Qatari player directed a “racist slur” at Michael Boxall, who has Samoan heritage, and it was “heard by several New Zealand players”.
The incident occurred just before half-time and referee Manuel Schuttengruber was seen having a discussion with New Zealand captain Joe Bell.
Schuttengruber then blew for half-time and New Zealand agreed at the break to not play the rest of the game.
“No official action was taken so the team have agreed not to come out for the second half of the match," NZF said on social media.
NZF CEO Andrew Pragnell said the governing body fully supported the players’ decision.
“We never want to see a match abandoned but some issues are bigger than football and it is important to make a stand," he said.
“There is no room for racism in football.”
Pragnell later added: “I think when someone receives significant racial abuse, multiple people hear it, there’s multiple witnesses to something like that and nothing can be done then we’ve got a bigger problem and maybe it’s time we look at the rules.
“Certainly we want to reach out to FIFA on this. You know they have recently established a task force around racism; more needs to be done to protect players from racial attacks on the field.
“There’s been some evolution; we don’t think it’s moving fast enough so we want to contribute to that.”
Qatar head coach Carlos Queiroz said his squad stood by their player.
"Apparently two players exchanged words, and we don't know who was first, who was second, it's only between them," he told Alkass Sports Channels.
“The New Zealand players decided to support their team-mate and we also decided to support our player.
"Let the football authorities make the decision about what happened here."
The incident occurred in Austria, where there was also - coincidentally - a Republic of Ireland Under-21 game called off following an alleged racist comment.
Ireland were 3-0 ahead in the second half when their match against Kuwait was stopped.
"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 Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said on social media.
Kuwait's FA disputed the claim made by the FAI.
"Kuwait Football Association…categorically rejects such accusations," it said in a statement on social media.
"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."
A FIFA spokesperson told the Guardian: “FIFA is awaiting the official reports before deciding on next steps.
“FIFA has a zero-tolerance policy against any forms of discrimination as stressed last week by the FIFA president.”
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