Racism scandal at test international match in Ritzing?

New Zealand have responded with understanding to their football team’s decision to call off a test match against Qatar in Ritzing over an alleged racist slur by an opponent. The All Whites remained in the dressing room on Monday before the second half of the game, which was refereed by referee Manuel Schüttengruber. The Upper Austrian Schüttengruber stated that he had not noticed the alleged insult. The Qatar Association rejected the allegations.

“The New Zealanders claim that a Qatar player racially insulted a New Zealand player during the game. The only thing I noticed was a brief commotion in the 40th minute. We then broke it up and then of course with the two the players leading the ring. There was never an issue of anything that had happened. The game then continued normally,” said Schüttengruber to ORF.

Defender Michael Boxall is said to have been racially abused by a Qatari player towards the end of the first half when the score was 1-0, according to the association. This led to turbulent scenes and lively discussions. Although teammates reported the incident to the referee, the team of officials led by Schüttengruber took no action, the New Zealanders said.

“Then I was surprised”

Schüttengruber explained that he had been informed by the New Zealanders during the break that they no longer wanted to sail. “Then I was surprised. I was then told that there had been a racist insult, it was about the N-word,” said the referee. After further consultation, the New Zealand team finally informed him that they really didn’t want to continue playing.

Furthermore, Schüttengruber stated that he had sent his report of the events to the ÖFB, which should then be forwarded to the world association FIFA. However, he does not believe that the actual events will be fully clarified afterwards. “But that’s probably very difficult to find out now.”

“It is important to take a stand”

The New Zealanders announced that they wanted to involve FIFA themselves. “We fully support the action taken by our players, who have collectively agreed on this course of action,” said New Zealand Football Association chief Andrew Pragnell. “We never want a game to be abandoned but some issues go beyond football and it’s important to take a stand.”

“I won’t elaborate on the nature of the comment but it was really serious and I think it was abhorrent and has absolutely no place on the football field or anywhere else so I don’t want to repeat it,” Pragnell said. Sports Minister Grant Robertson also praised the decision to cancel. “I support the team as they supported their colleague and fought against racism. We should all do that.”

Exchange of words “in the heat of the moment”

The Qatar association initially only tweeted about the opponent’s withdrawal, but not about the probable cause. Only later did the association specifically comment on the allegations of racism. Accordingly, team player Yusuf Abdurisag confirmed an exchange of words with an opponent shortly before the break “in the heat of the moment”, as it said in a statement. However, Abdurisag does not claim to have used racist or discriminatory language. On the contrary, it was said that Abdurisag reported that he had been racially abused during the game. However, the association takes the allegations incredibly seriously and is committed to combating racism in any form.

Qatari media, however, quoted national coach Carlos Queiroz as saying that he was surprised by the opponent’s decision. “The referee didn’t hear the exchange, nobody on the bench and neither did the coaches,” said the Portuguese. “It was just a dispute between two players.” He hopes that FIFA will investigate the incident.

Incident also in Bad Radkersburg

At almost the same time, a similar incident happened in Bad Radkersburg during a youth match between Ireland and Kuwait. As the Irish FA announced, a player from the Kuwait Olympic team racially insulted a substitute player in the U21 national team game. The incident has been reported to FIFA and UEFA, the Irish said. They were 3-0 up at the time of the demolition.