The Irish Under 21 friendly against Kuwait’s Under 22 team was abandoned this afternoon after a Kuwaiti player reportedly racially abused one of Ireland’s substitutes.
As soon as the incident occurred, the Ireland U21 manager, Jim Crawford, took his players off the field. They were winning 3-0 at the time.
The FAI has subsequently issued a statement, via Twitter, which said: “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.”
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This shocking incident completely overshadows an afternoon when Ireland completely outplayed their Asian opponents, scoring two goals inside the opening 10 minutes, the first from Ollie O’Neill, the second from Conor Carty.
Aidomo Emakhu then scored from close range to make it 3-0 just before the alleged racist incident.
Elsewhere, New Zealand didn't come out for the second half of their international friendly with Qatar after another alleged racist incident in a match held in Austria this evening.
New Zealand Football said: "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."
New Zealand were 1-0 up at half-time of the match after Marko Stamenic opened the scoring.
