All Whites game abandoned at halftime following 'racial abuse'

June 20, 2023

The All Whites have refused to play out the rest of their match against Qatar following claims an opposition player racially abused a Kiwi defender.

In a statement, New Zealand Football said Minnesota United defender Michael Boxall was "racially abused" by a Qatari player in the first half of the game.

The two teams met in Vienna for a friendly, with the alleged incident taking place at around the 40th minute.

After play was stopped for a free kick, a commotion could be seen on the pitch, with the two teams pushing and shoving each other.

A New Zealand player can be heard yelling: "That's racist".

New Zealand decided not to go ahead with play at the break in Vienna, saying no official action was taken on the pitch to stop the abuse.

"Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half of the game by a Qatari player," the team said on Twitter.

"No official action was taken, so the team have agreed not to come out for the second half of the match."

In a video responding to the allegations following the game, Qatar coach Carlos Queiroz says his team was approached by Kiwi captain Joe Bell, who said he was supporting his teammates.

Queiroz said the incident was "just an argument between two players".

"They decided to abandon the game with no witnesses," he said.

New Zealand was up 1-0 against last year's World Cup hosts.

Racism in football

At a recent anti-racism event led by Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr, who has frequently been abused by fans in Spain, FIFA president Gianni Infantino decried discrimination in the game.

"For me what is clear is that there is no soccer if there is racism. So when there is racism we have to stop the match. There is nothing else to do, we have to stop the matches."

FIFA has a mixed record when it comes to addressing racism in the game.

It created an anti-racism task force in 2013 after a notorious incident of abuse suffered in Italy by AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who is Black.

Boateng worked with the task force which FIFA shut down in 2016, months after Infantino was elected. FIFA said then the task force had “completely fulfilled its temporary mission.”

Shutting down the anti-racism panel had been “a monumental mistake,” one of its members, British-Nigerian journalist Osasu Obayiuwana said recently.

Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Football Ferns' Liv Chance said they were backing the team.

"There's no room for racism in the sport, and I'm really proud of the boys.

"It's massive to go 1-0 up and make the decision not to play."

It was one of two such incidents in Austria on Tuesday, 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.

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