Racist abuse of Vinícius Júnior highlights entrenched problem in soccer
Associated PressJun 06, 2023
On Monday, the New Zealand national men's football team walked away from its friendly [i.e. non-competitive] match with Qatar alleging on-field racial abuse and a failure to act by Qatari officials. Following halftime, with a 1-0 lead, New Zealand refused to return to the pitch.
The incident took place when Qatar's Yousuf Abdurisag allegedly made a racist remark to New Zealand's Michael Boxall, who is of Samoan heritage; in response, Qatar was awarded a free kick. Following a scuffle between the clubs in the 40th minute, New Zealand captain Joe Bell appealed to referee Michael Schuttengruber, who took no action.
There is a deep history of racism in football. While predominately occurring in Europe, racial slurs and racist chants have grown around the world, exacerbated by social media and spectators' belief in freedom of speech. The world is watching racism in real-time while federations ignore the egregious abuse and talk around it. When they don't take a firm stance, they implicitly signal that the hateful treatment of players is acceptable.
FIFA recognizes the deeply troubling racist trend that's occurring in football. It has taken a strong stance against the acts as they have no place in football. At all levels of play, when these incidents occur, the match must be stopped and the actions of the players and spectators addressed. In an effort to advance the Association's stance on this matter, an anti-racism task force has been developed to include Vinicius Junior to assess and determine the best path forward for football.