FAI report 'racist incident' to Uefa following U17 match

The incident is reported to have occurred during the second half between Poland and the Republic of Ireland U17 Elite Phase qualifying match.

REPORTED: The FAI have issued a statement confirming that they have reported an incident of racism to Uefa that occurred during the second-half of the U17 Elite Phase qualifying match between Poland and the Republic of Ireland. Pic: FAI

The FAI have issued a statement confirming that they have reported a 'racist incident' to Uefa that occurred during the second-half of the U17 Elite Phase qualifying match between Poland and the Republic of Ireland.

The players immediately made Head Coach Colin O'Brien aware of the incident with the coach reporting to the match officials another three times during the game.

The statement said: "The Football Association of Ireland can confirm that we've reported a racist incident to UEFA which occurred in the second-half of the Poland v Ireland U17 Elite Phase qualifying match. 

"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.

"Following the conclusion of the game, 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 went on to say that full support was being given to the player in question and his teammates.

"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."

U17 Head Coach O'Brien said: "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."