New Zealand’s national men’s football team have abandoned their friendly with Qatar, alleging racial abuse and inaction by officials.
The All Whites took the extraordinary step of refusing to come back out at half-time of a game they led 1-0.
It was one of two such incidents in Austria on Monday (Tuesday morning AEST) with the Republic of Ireland under-21s’ friendly against Kuwait Under-22s abandoned after one of the Ireland substitutes was allegedly the target of racist abuse.
New Zealand Football put a short statement on its social media channels after the walk-off.
“Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half of the game by a Qatari player,” the statement read.
“No official action was taken so the team have agreed not to come out for the second half of the match.”
Australian legend Tim Cahill was caught up in the drama, on the Qatar touchline as one of coach Carlos Queiroz’s assistants.
Queiroz was unhappy that the match was called off despite no witnesses to the alleged incident.
“They decided to abandon the game with no witnesses. The ref did not listen. It was just an argument between two players,” Quieroz said.
“Apparently two players on the pitch they exchanged words … the New Zealand players, they decided to support his teammate as it is obvious all our team decided to support our player.
“This is a new story, a new chapter in football, which is for sure. Something that nobody can understand.
“I think this case will be under the observation of FIFA for sure.”
New Zealand led the match through Marko Stamenic’s 17th minute strike.
The flashpoint appeared to be a free kick late in the first half, following a foul on Qatar’s Yusuf Abdurisag.
Abdurisag made comments to Boxall following the foul – which caused several All Whites, including Boxall, to remonstrate with the player and the referee.
The friendly was played at Sonnenseestadion, in Ritizing in Austria, and officiated by Austrian referee Manuel Schuttengruber.
Captain Joe Bell was seen remonstrating with Schuttengruber as they left the field for half-time, before the All Whites made the decision not to return.
Commentator and two-cap All Whites goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley said Boxall, the captain of MLS side Minnesota United, was “a man of huge integrity, of tolerance and patience”.
“To garnish this reaction from him really did raise my eyebrows. To hear the details of the allegations that are being made by this All Whites team, I can completely understand why this action has been taken,” he said.
Boxall is of Kiwi and Samoan heritage.
The players union (NZPFA) tweeted their support for the action.
“NZPFA stands unequivocally with its players. We commend and support our players’ poised reaction in this challenging situation. We have contacted the team and will work with @NZ_Football to support the players in any way required. There is no room for racism in our sport.”
Michael Boxall. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
The Republic of Ireland U-21s game in Bad Radkersburg was brought to a premature conclusion in the second half with Jim Crawford’s men leading 3-0.
The Football Association of Ireland posted on Twitter: “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.”
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