Football: racism against a New Zealand player, and the match against Qatar was interrupted

On Monday, June 19 in Vienna (Austria), the New Zealand team made a radical half-time decision: abandon the game when leading 1-0. According to the Kiwi players, defender Michael Boxall (34, Minnesota United) was the victim of racism from an opposing player. The arbitrator reportedly did not take any action against him. In the 40th minute, Qatar player Youssef Abdel-Rasaq (23rd, Al Sadd) appeared to address Boxal before a direct free kick, angering the New Zealanders.

“Michael Boxall was racially abused in the first period by a Qatari player,” The New Zealand Football Association took to Twitter to justify the fact that its players were not back on the grass for the second time. “The referee did not respond, so the team chose not to return to play the second half of the match,” adds the tweet.

Racist insults also between Ireland and Kuwait

On the part of Qatar, the Portuguese coach of Annabi, Carlos Queiroz, is not of the opinion of the opposing team. “To our surprise, the New Zealand captain came to us to tell us that his team would not restart.”He said. “Apparently two players exchanged words on the pitch. Who started and who answered? Only they know (…) There are no witnesses, the referee hears nothing, and neither do the benches. It’s just an argument between two players. Now let the football authorities decide (…) But without a witness, I don’t know how FIFA will be able to make a decision.” He completed.

On the same Monday, a friendly match between Ireland U-21s and Kuwait U-22s, also in Austria, was stopped permanently after the Irish denounced racial slurs against one of their substitutes. The Irish FA announced that it would take over FIFA. The Irish led 3-0 at the time of the break, into the second period. After the events in Spain with Vinicius or in Italy with Umtiti, it is the turn of international football to be deeply affected by racism.