A “racist incident” involving one of the Republic of Ireland Under-17 players has been reported to UEFA, according to confirmation from the Football Association of Ireland, reports RTE.
It reportedly happened in the second part of the team’s encounter versus Poland to qualify for the Elite Phase.
The FAI released a statement on the matter saying: “The comment was reported to the match officials at the time and the players immediately made Republic of Ireland U17 Head Coach Colin O’Brien aware of the incident. Colin then reported the remark to the match officials two more times during the match,” reports RTE.
Additionally, according to the statement, the FAI reported the insult twice during the game and again after it ended.
“FAI officials made a further report to the UEFA delegate and the delegate has since confirmed the incident will be submitted in the final report to UEFA,” the statement from the FAI website added, reports RTE.
The organisation further highlighted its position on racism in football and stated that help had been extended to the impacted player.
They continued: “The association has offered its full and unequivocal support to the player who was subjected to racism and to his team-mates. The FAI does not tolerate any form of racism towards any of our players or staff and we expect UEFA to investigate fully and take the appropriate action. Racism has no place in the game at any level,” reports RTE.
Colin O’Brien, head coach of the Under-17 team, stated that he is in complete agreement with the incident’s escalation: “Racism has no place in the game at any level and no-one should be subjected to any form of abuse. It has no place in society and as a staff and a team, we’ve offered our full support to our player. I’m fully supportive of the Association escalating the incident up to UEFA and we await strong disciplinary action from the authorities to send a message out that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated,” reports RTE.
Ireland won the game 2-0.
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