An under-15s soccer team has been fined €200 for refusing to continue playing a crucial league game after one of their players was allegedly racially abused during a match.
The Cork Schoolboys League (CSL) imposed the fine on Carrigaline United for what their coaches claim was a protest against racism on the pitch. The team needed three points from the game to avoid being relegated.
Carrigaline were 1-0 down at half time when the manager Mick McCarthy decided to end the game early for his team. One distressed player claimed that someone on the opposing team repeatedly racially abused him on a number of occasions throughout the game. It was the second time this season that the player received racial abuse on the field.
“I had to make a moral decision,” Mr McCarthy told the Irish Examiner.
Ted O’Callaghan is co-manager for Carrigaline and he told Newstalk Breakfast that “you don’t just walk off the pitch for any reason” and while he was not in attendance at the game he personally supported the manager’s decision.
Shortly after the incident, a disciplinary meeting held by the CSL was attended by representatives from the club who Mr O’Callaghan believes “stood up for the players and the team”.
A week later Carrigaline were handed down a sanction on account of abandoning the match.
Hon Secretary of CSL Eddie Doyle refused an invitation to speak on Newstalk Breakfast this morning on account of the fact that they [CSL] "would not be discussing the details of the disciplinary committee hearings involving minors in public."
You can listen to Carrigaline coach Ted O'Callaghan's interview in full here:
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