The FAI expect “strong disciplinary action” after reporting a “racist incident” to Uefa that allegedly occurred during the Republic of Ireland under-17s' defeat of Poland in a European Championship qualifier on Saturday at the Baltyk Koszalin stadium in Koszalin.
“The comment was reported to the match officials at the time and the players immediately made Republic of Ireland under-17 head coach Colin O’Brien aware of the incident,” read an FAI statement. “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 FAI statement added: “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.”
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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.”
Benfica forward Jaden Umeh scored both goals in the 2-0 win with Ireland’s final outing of a three-match tournament coming against Iceland on Tuesday in Gryfice, Poland.
