Minnesota United captain Boxall, who is of Kiwi and Samoan heritage, was allegedly subjected to racial abuse towards the end of the first half of the friendly at Sonnenseestadion, in Ritizing, Austria.
Several New Zealand players were spotted having heated discussions with the referee, Manuel Schuttengruber, following the incident. Captain Joe Bell continued to talk animatedly with Schuttengruber after the half-time whistle as they headed towards the tunnel. After that, the team decided not to come out for the second half, despite leading 1-0 courtesy of Marko Stamenic’s 17th-minute strike.
New Zealand Football put out a statement after the match, which read: "In the 40th minute of the New Zealand vs Qatar game today in Austria, a Qatari player used a racial slur towards All Whites defender Michael Boxall after a confrontation between the two players."
Several New Zealand players, including Boxall, claimed to have heard the racial slur. The players reported the incident, but no official action was taken, and the team collectively agreed that they would not continue with the match.
New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell said: “We fully support the action of our players, who agreed collectively this course of action. We never want to see a match abandoned but some issues are bigger than football and it is important to make a stand. There is no room for racism in football.”
Meanwhile, Qatar's coach Carlos Queiroz hinted that FIFA might look into this matter.
"They abandoned the game," he said. "Apparently two players on the pitch exchanged words … the New Zealand players, they decided to support his teammate as it is obvious all our team decided to support our player. This is a new story, a new chapter in football, which is for sure. Something that nobody can understand. I think this case will be under the observation of FIFA for sure."
There was another incident of racism in Austria on Monday as Ireland U21's friendly against Kuwait U-22 in Bad Radkersburg was also abandoned after one of the Irish substitutes was allegedly the target of racist abuse.
The Football Association of Ireland confirmed the incident in a statement on Twitter, saying: “The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark was made by a Kuwaiti player towards one of our substitutes. The FAI does not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff and will be reporting this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA.”
Recently, FIFA announced that Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior would head an anti-racism committee as the governing body pushes for stricter sporting penalties while working with prosecutors in different countries to better apply criminal sanctions against racist offenders.
