A "proud" Andrew Pragnell says he and New Zealand Football are ready for any repercussions that may come from the All Whites' decision to abandon their match this morning over a racial slur hurled at one of their players.
The New Zealand Football chief executive was watching this morning's game like many others when he got a call at halftime from the team informing him they were taking a stand.
"It was already evident something significant on field had taken place," Pragnell told 1News.
"Obviously the playing group made the decision not to return to the field. It's a really big decision but a decision I'm really proud of."
The All Whites' drastic measures took place after an incident in the 40th minute where Qatari player Yousuf Abdurisag made a comment towards Michael Boxall that angered several New Zealand players, leading to a melee.
Despite captain Joe Bell's best efforts to bring the matter to the ref's attention, play continued without any punishment directed at Abdurisag.
While Pragnell wouldn't reveal exactly what Abdurisag said, he did confirm it was used directly towards Boxall, who is of Samoan decent.
The All Whites' decision not to return to the field after Michael Boxall was racially abused has been praised. (Source: 1News)
"It was a significant racial slur that has absolutely no place in football whatsoever," he said.
"Unfortunately for football, it's got a problem globally in professional football and international football and we need to confront racism.
"People have been trying to make change but it's not fast enough and the fact it's still happening is a problem and our team decided enough is enough."
The team decided not to play the second half in Austria when it became no official action was being taken.
The All Whites' line in the sand comes after FIFA reintroduced its racism task force last week.
Shortly after bringing back the task force, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino said he wanted refs to stop football games when racism occurs, saying a "zero tolerance" approach must take place at all levels of the game.
“It’s very important not just to talk about racism and discrimination, but to take action in a decisive and convincing manner – zero tolerance,” Infantino said last week.
“There is no football if there is racism – so let’s stop the games. The referees have this opportunity in FIFA competitions as we have this process for stopping the game, and actions have to be taken at every level, at national level as well."
Despite the comments, New Zealand Football could still face punishment from FIFA for abandoning a match.
Pragnell said he's ready for that scenario.
"We'll work through that with Qatar Football and FIFA - obviously they'll want to go into some detail around what took place.
"[A fine] isn't out of the question but I think in light of what took place, there's a bigger issue at play so if there are repercussions in relation to that, then we want them to be understood in the wider magnitude of the incident that took place and that might draw the spotlight to it even more."
The team was fielding media inquiries from the likes of CNN.
"Taking this type of stand raises the profile of the incident and it's a significant leadership stand on behalf of the players.
"We stand behind them 100%."
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