Racism hits football again, New Zealand-Qatar friendly abandoned

Football was hit by racism once again as an international friendly match between New Zealand and Qatar was abandoned on Monday.

The New Zealand side alleged racial abuse towards one of their players by an opponent during the game that was being held in Austria.

The incident happened shortly before half-time, when New Zealand was leading 1-0. They decided not to continue with the match.

'Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half of the game by a Qatari player. No official action was taken so the team have agreed not to come out for the second half of the match,' the New Zealand football federation tweeted.

The match between Republic of Ireland U-21's and Kuwait which was also being played in Austria got abandoned after the Irish team complained that one of the U-22 players from Kuwait made a racist remark towards a Republic substitute.