New York Red Bulls withdraw from youth tourney over two alleged on-field racist incidents, hitting out at MLS for an ‘extreme lack of action’

The New York Red Bulls’ U-15 and U-17 academy teams withdraw from the Adidas Generation Cup over players’ claim that MLS organizers showed an “extreme lack of action” in response to two separate racist incidents that occurred on the field. of game.

The latest alleged incident occurred on Thursday, when Red Bulls under-1 defender Eric Tai was allegedly subjected to racist abuse by a member of Croatia’s Hajduk Split.

The Athletic reports that the referee did send off the player accused of racism. Days before, goalkeeper Joshua Grant claimed to have received racist insults from a CF Monterrey player.

“What has happened in these last two games is completely inappropriate and has changed our team forever,” the Red Bulls U17 players said in Thursday’s statement.

“The extreme lack of action taken by the league is unacceptable and has left a feeling of distrust and uncertainty in our safety and well-being as we play in this event and our home games. We hope this situation clears up a persistent problem in football and in our world”.

MLS spokespeople did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

The Red Bulls under-17 team had already been eliminated from the tournament by Hajduk Split, although the under-15s remained in the competition until their elimination before Thursday’s game against French side Toulouse.