AN IRSH footballer was reportedly subjected to a ‘racist incident’ during an U17 match against Poland on Saturday, according to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
The organisation said in a statement on Sunday that it had reported the matter to UEFA following the youth side’s 2-0 win in the Elite Phase qualifying match in Koszalin.
It added that it had offered its support to the affected player, while Head Coach Colin O’Brien said: “Racism has no place in the game at any level.”
In its statement, the FAI said the incident occurred in the second-half of the game and the comment was reported to the match officials at the time.
The players also made O’Brien aware of the incident, who reported the remark to the match officials two more times during the match.
After the game, FAI officials made a further report to the UEFA delegate, who later confirmed the incident would be submitted in the final report to UEFA.
“The Association has offered its full and unequivocal support to the player who was subjected to racism and to his team-mates,” added the statement.
‘Appropriate action’
“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.”
O’Brien backed the FAI’s stance, adding that he expected ‘strong disciplinary action’ to be taken.
“Racism has no place in the game at any level and no-one should be subjected to any form of abuse,” he said.
“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.”
Ireland, who won the match thanks to two second-half goals from Benfica forward Jaden Umeh, face Iceland on Tuesday in Gryfice in their final group game of round 2.