Serious allegations made
New Zealand and Ireland abandon internationals against Qatar and Kuwait
06/20/2023 11:53 am
The national football teams from New Zealand and Qatar meet in Austria, as do the U21s from Ireland and the U22s from Kuwait. Both international matches are ended prematurely because one team refuses to continue due to allegations of racism. The accused see it differently.
June 19 is likely to go down in football history as one of the rare days when two international matches were canceled at the same time. Initially, New Zealand’s senior team refused to take on Qatar’s selection in the second half. A little later, the game between Ireland’s U21 and Kuwait’s U22 could not be brought to an end because the Irish refused to continue. Trigger in both cases: racist statements. This is reported by both the New Zealand and Irish associations. Both matches took place on neutral ground in Austria.
“We never want a game to be abandoned,” said Andrew Pragnell, head of the New Zealand Football Association, “but some issues go beyond football and it’s important to take a stand.” Sports Minister Grant Robertson also praised the decision to cancel. Central defender Michael Boxall is said to have been racially abused by a Qatari footballer towards the end of the first half when the Kiwis were 1-0 up. Although teammates reported the incident to referee Manuel Schüttengruber, he said he took no action.
What exactly was said on the field in Ritzing, Austria, is so far unclear. Pragnell: “I won’t elaborate on the nature of the comment but it was really serious and in my opinion abhorrent and has absolutely no place on the football field or anywhere else so I don’t want to repeat it.” The team showed solidarity with Boxall and decided not to restart the game after the half-time break.
Qatar coach has heard nothing
The Qatari association is much shorter in its official announcements about the game being abandoned. “New Zealand has withdrawn from the friendly,” writes the English-speaking Qatar Football Association account on Twitter, without giving any reasons – including various comments that ask for clarification and refer to the allegations of racism. On the website of the Qatari news agency QNA In the late morning German time there is only a pre-notification that refers to the game.
The news site independent of the state “Doha News”, temporarily banned by Qatar for its critical reporting in the past, writes about the incident and the allegations. It says that Qatar national coach Carlos Queiroz was surprised by the demolition and now hopes that the world association will take care of the matter. He didn’t hear any racist remarks and according to Queiroz, the referees didn’t hear anything of the kind either. However, “Doha News” also links to a video that is supposed to show the incident. This shows a verbal altercation between footballers from both teams and apparently a New Zealand player saying to the referee: “referee, he can’t say that”.
Kuwait’s association explains the demolition quite differently
A similar incident appears to have taken place during the U international match between teams from Ireland and Kuwait. As the Irish association announced via Twitter, a substitute player had been racially insulted by a player from Kuwait. The incident was reported to the associations FIFA and UEFA, the Irish said. The “Irish Examiners” reports that when Ireland were 3-0 up, the insult came in the second half.
The Kuwaiti Football Association also reported the demolition, but with a different reason. Accordingly, the game was not played to the end “due to the excessive hardness and the tension between the players”. The duel was interrupted in the 70th minute “to protect the players from injury”. There are also words of praise for the “discipline and dedication” of the Kuwaiti footballers who gathered for a training camp in Austria.
On Twitter, the Kuwait Football Association responded in one detailed statement defensive to the Irish FA’s allegations. The reports of racist insults are “wrong and are categorically rejected” before a reference to the excessive harshness as the alleged trigger for the termination is made again. The Kuwaiti footballers are characterized by “discipline, good manners and exemplary behavior”: “None of them are allowed to behave improperly towards others.”