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[Steve Russell]

‘I am proud of myself that I didn't hit him’ –
Ireland U-21 Sinclair Armstrong on his reaction to racial abuse

Seán O'Connor for the Independent ie....

Ireland U-21 forward Sinclair Armstrong says he was left in disbelief when he was racially abused on
the pitch last month and is proud he didn’t react by hitting the Kuwaiti player who made the heinous remark.

The Ireland U-21s final friendly against Kuwait’s U-22s in Austria was abandoned after 60 minutes last month
after a racist remark was made by an opposition player towards Armstrong, who was a substitute at the time.

Jim Crawford’s side were leading 3-0 in the match but agreed to refuse to play on following the incident,
with the FAI saying that the comment was heard by a number of Irish players who reported it to match
officials immediately.

Despite the Kuwait FA saying they ‘categorically reject such accusations’, claiming the abandonment was
due to ‘excessive roughness and tension between the players’, the FAI subsequently reported the matter
to FIFA and UEFA, adding that they do ‘not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff’.

Speaking about the incident for the first time, Dubliner Armstrong (20) admitted he could have reacted
by hitting the Kuwaiti player but is proud of himself for remaining calm and going straight to the
match officials.

“With the incident, I say this with me being proud of myself. When it was said, I kind of froze,”
said Armstrong, speaking on the Training 121 podcast.

“I had never experienced racism on the pitch. I remember going out to warm up. It was me and Killian Phillips.
He was right beside me. The lad made a gesture, me being me, I just laughed.

“Then, he said what he said, and I looked at him thinking, 'There is no way he just said that’.
It’s kind of like the devil and the angel on my shoulder. Should I go and punch him?
Or calm yourself and see what happens.

“My initial thought was just get the linesman involved. He was all the way down there, so obviously,
he didn’t hear anything. I called the linesman, ‘Did you hear what he said?’.

“Then, Killian was going mad, more mad than me. He went over to the lad. Everyone was like,
‘Killian, calm down, what was said?’ Killian said what was said, our bench got up and their bench got up.

“But I am proud of myself because I know I could have hit him. There was no one stopping me from
hitting him, but I just thought, if I hit this lad, I’m not going to get anything out of it.

“He had already said what he said. I have already heard it. I am proud of myself that I didn't hit him
and just dealt with it the way I dealt with it, by just telling the linesman, ‘He said this’ and telling
the gaffer, ‘He said this’. We just walked off.”

The QPR forward believes education is key in stamping out racism and insists society must keep talking
about the issue for change to happen.

“Obviously education, because in my opinion, I don’t think anyone is born racist,” added Armstrong,
who earned his maiden U-21 cap against Iceland last March.

“Even little kids, younger than my 13-year-old brother, would say stuff. I remember walking a few weeks ago,
hearing stuff, and I’m thinking, ‘Where is the education?’.

“In order to stop it, I remember a player saying something like point deductions. But as a football fan,
let’s say a fan said something to a player, you wouldn't really want to say something knowing it could
cost you a title, cost you a play-off place, cost you promotion or cost you relegation.

“It could be point deductions, you can ban people from stadiums, but at the end of the day, I feel like
it’s just education. It’s wrong. You can't be saying this sort of stuff on the pitch. It happens again and again,
but I hope I see change. We have to talk about it. Hopefully, we do see change.”


‘

[steveqpr881]

I wouldn't have blamed the guy if he did react.
No reason he should be subjected to that - not on the pitch, not anywhere.