Ireland's U21 international game against Kuwait ended in shocking circumstances on Monday evening, as the game was abandoned after an alleged racist remark from a Kuwaiti player.
The Ireland U21s were facing the Kuwaiti U22 side in Austria as part of an international camp which already saw them face Ukraine, last Friday.
The game kicked off at 4pm Irish time, and Ireland were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Ollie O'Neill and Conor Carty, after a dominant display in the first-half.
Aidomo Emakhu made it 3-0 early in the second-half, before the game was abandoned in acrimonious circumstances.
Ireland U21s: Shocking scenes as game v Kuwait curtailed
The game was abandoned, after a Kuwaiti player was reported to have made a racist remark towards one of the Irish substitutes.
In a tweet, the official Ireland Football account said:
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 awful circumstances in which the game were abandoned have marred what had been a successful training camp for the Ireland U21s, and one can only hope that the incident is investigated thoroughly and that a suitable reaction comes from those at the top in FIFA and UEFA.
19 June 2023; Ollie O'Neill of Republic of Ireland, right, celebrates with teammate Sam Curtis after scoring his side's first goal during the International friendly match between the Republic of Ireland U21's and Kuwait U22's at Parktherme Arena in Bad Radkersburg, Austria. Photo by Blaz Weindorfer/Sportsfile
On the same day, New Zealand's senior international against Qatar was also halted prematurely after a similar allegation of racial abuse by a Qatari player.
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 Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) June 19, 2023
New Zealand chose not to return to the field of play after half-time.
More on this developing story to come as we get it.
