Republic of Ireland U21 game abandoned after racist abuse allegations

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The Republic of Ireland’s Under-21 friendly against Kuwait has been abandoned after allegations that a Kuwaiti player racially abused one of the Irish substitutes.

Ireland were leading 3-0 after goals from Fulhams Ollie ONeill, Bolton Wanderers Conor Carty and Millwalls Aidomo Emakhu before the alleged incident in Austria on Monday.

During the second half when the alleged incident took place, Ireland manager Jim Crawford asked his players to leave the pitch with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), later confirming they would report the incident to FIFA and UEFA.

Athletic has contacted both organizations and the Kuwait FA for comment.

A tweet from the FAI read: The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark by a Kuwaiti player towards one of our substitutes.

The FAI does not tolerate racism towards any of our players or staff and will report this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino met Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior over a new initiative to tackle racism in football last week.

Vinicius Jr was the victim of racist abuse on several occasions last season, with the most serious incident occurring in the 1-0 defeat to Valencia on May 21, where the game was temporarily halted due to abuse from stands.

Infantino revealed he had a meeting with the 22-year-old in Spain where Vinicius Jr agreed to join a task force which has been set up to tackle racism in the game.

(Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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