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FAI to meet gardaí following abuse aimed at youth squad

The FAI is expected to meet with Garda representatives on Monday over what it says was the "vile and horrific racist abuse" aimed at members of the Republic of Ireland u15 boys squad.

The social media attacks - with many of the comments attached to a photograph of the squad, followed Ireland's back-to-back 6-0 international friendly victories over Latvia.

Separately, Kerry FC has also been in contact with the FAI over online abuse it says was directed at its players following a match against Athlone last night.

The club's media officer Ivan Hurley told RTÉ News: "Those comments were reported and blocked and hopefully not seen by our followers, because it's something that we don't condone."

He said they are liaising with the Football Association of Ireland and issued a strong statement condemning the unacceptable abuse.

Later this month on 31 March, the Immigrant Council of Ireland is holding a 'Wear Red Day’ which it says is an opportunity to send out a strong message welcoming diversity not only in sport clubs, but also in schools and workplaces.

It follows on from the Show Racism the Red Card initiative.

Valeria Aquino, Integration Manager with the Immigrant Council of Ireland said: "I would like to express my solidarity with the players and their families.

Valeria Aquino, Integration Manager with the Immigrant Council of Ireland said: "I would like to express my solidarity with the players and their families.

"I think like it is important for us to show that we are not accepting this anymore in our communities."

She added: "We invite businesses and workplaces to wear red for the day and show their support for diverse and welcome communities and also of course to stand against racism."

Kerry FC say they are also considering going to the gardaí after racist online abuse was directed at their players during a game with Athlone Town last night.

The club is new to the League of Ireland and the club's Media Officer Ivan Hurley said he first became aware of the abuse during their First Division match with Athlone Town, who won 1-0.

"The game was ongoing, and as you can imagine, on game day it's fairly hectic around the stadium here with all the staff working," he said.

He said the "nasty comments were made in reply to some of the club's own tweets regarding the match and as soon as the game ended I brought it to the attention of everybody here."

"Everyone was was really down, but really more than anything, it was disappointing to see it happen in our game. So I suppose that we kind of put our protocols into place you know, the club has a strict no to racism policy in place and you know, being such a new club, we contacted the FAI directly."

He said racism was not wanted or welcomed at the club and that this type of behaviour needed to be called out.

He said some of the accounts associated with this abuse "have very few followers and they're following very few people and you know, it seems like new accounts can be set up so easily."

He added: "They shouldn't be getting away with it, it shouldn't be happening in the game."