The Ireland U21s' clash with Kuwait ended in awful circumstances on Monday evening, as the game was abandoned shortly after the hour mark after a racist remark was allegedly made towards an Irish substitute by one of the Kuwaiti players.
Ireland were 3-0 up at the time of the incident, in a friendly game which formed part of a training camp. The FAI explained the reasoning for the game's abandonment almost immediately through a statement released on social media.
Ireland U21s: FAI respond to Kuwait FA statement
The Kuwaiti FA released a statement of their own in the aftermath of Monday's game, which painted a different picture of events.
The bizarre statement claimed that the match was not completed due to "roughness and excessive tension between the players," and went on to praise the conduct of the Kuwaiti players:
The football team's friendly match with its Irish counterpart, which was held this afternoon in Slovenia, was not completed due to roughness and excessive tension between the players.
Al-Atiqi explained that the match stopped at the seventieth minute to protect the players from injuries, especially since the main goal of the match is friction and standing on the readiness of the players before the conclusion of their camp and return to the country.
The director of the "Olympic Blue" praised the discipline and commitment of the players throughout the camp, which comes as part of the preparation program to participate in the qualifiers for the AFC U-23 Finals.
On Tuesday afternoon, the FAI released a statement which utterly refuted the claims of the Kuwait FA, and reiterated that a racist incident was what had curtailed Monday's game.
FAI Statement | Ireland U21 v Kuwait U22
➡️ https://t.co/vBbli2ctm9 pic.twitter.com/x2tCA5WWsj— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) June 20, 2023
The FAI's statement expressed full support for their players:
During the second half of Ireland Under-21s’ international friendly with Kuwait U22s in Austria on Monday evening, we can once again confirm that a racist remark was made to an Ireland substitute by a Kuwaiti player. The comment was heard by a number of Ireland players who reported this immediately to match officials as well as to members of the Ireland and Kuwait team staff.
Due to the nature of the remark made and with no affirmative action in relation to it from our opponents, the game was abandoned. FAI staff and players were fully in support with this decision.
The FAI has offered its full and unequivocal support to the player who was subjected to racism and to his team-mates. We again confirm that we will be reporting this matter to FIFA and UEFA. The FAI does not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff.
Ireland U21s manager Jim Crawford also spoke about the incident, and expressed his disappointment that what should have been remembered for a well-fought and close contest had been marred by such a heinous incident.
He nonetheless praised the strength and unity of his players, and their maturity in choosing to walk off:
After the hour mark, we believe there was a racist incident that we're certainly not going to stand for. One of our players was racially abused, and it certainly upset and annoyed a lot of our players.
When I found out the details about it, we as a whole group decided that there was no way we were going to play this game. I do have to commend the level of maturity that our players showed. Everybody was calm about it. We stepped aside, we waited out on the pitch until Kuwait had left the dressing room area.
It was a real disappointing end to our international window. But we cannot tolerate this type of behaviour in society, in sport, and for me what we did was the right thing to do. It's something that we with the U21s stand for.
Ireland U21 forward Sinclair Armstrong - who was in the squad as a substitute for Monday's game - shared several messages of support from teammates to his Instagram story in the aftermath of the incident.
19 June 2023; Sinclair Armstrong of Republic of Ireland 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
Armstrong's club QPR also added a note on the incident, and shared their support both for the FAI's decision to abandon the game, and for their young star:
QPR CEO Lee Hoos said: “This is the only action that will make people stand up and take notice. We fully support the FAI’s decision in taking this step.
“Gareth Ainsworth has spoken with Sinclair to confirm he is ok.”
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