‘They’re ignorant’: Crawford hits out at racist abuse of Ireland Under-15s players

The Republic of Ireland Under-21s manager, Jim Crawford, has hit out at the “uneducated” trolls who sent online abuse to members of the country’s under-15s squad.

The Football Association of Ireland has condemned the attacks which came after the under-15s’ back-to-back 6-0 victories over Latvia this week, as “vile and horrific” and is working with police and social media companies to identify and deal with those responsible.

“I just want to get it out there that there’s certainly no place for racism in sport, in society,” said Crawford. “It comes from a minority, it comes from uneducated people and it comes from social media platforms where people can disguise their names, their identity. The unfortunate thing is that they have a platform.

“To hear that this morning, it just makes you angry. I just think it’s time that we all just work together on this and stamp it out because it’s unacceptable.”

The incident comes at a time when Stephen Kenny’s senior Ireland squad, who France in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Monday evening, reflects the diversity of the country, with striker Chiedozie Ogbene – the first African-born player to represent the nation at senior level – Andrew Omobamidele and Adam Idah all of Nigerian heritage.

“These same people will be cheering goals if Chieo scores, Adam Idah scores, do you know what I mean?” said Crawford. “They’re ignorant, they’re uneducated, but they have to hide behind these fake accounts.

“I think social media companies have got to do something about this. They’ve got to do it because certain people think it’s a laugh and a joke, but it’s not, it’s a lot deeper than that.

“I’ve worked in the FAI a long time and I know the work that development officers do on the ground, getting into schools, putting on Show Racism the Red Card programmes, and I’ve been involved in that myself.

“It’s something that I’m very strong about and every school I’ve been to, I’ve got the buy-in. But it’s just the minority, you know? It’s just a minority. I’ve run so many programmes with black kids loving football, and then I hear this shit that goes on, you know?”