By: Jonathan Burgos
The New York Red Bulls Academy U14 club faced some racial comments and verbal abuse in their international match this past Saturday. As a collective group, they decided not to finish the match; instead, in the next game, they all took a knee on the pitch. The Academy Team withdrew two of their youth teams from an MLS-run youth tournament in Florida on Thursday.
Red Bulls’ U17 player midfielder Adri Mehmeti posted: “What has happened these past two games is completely inappropriate and has changed our team forever. The extreme lack of action taken by the league is unacceptable and has left a feeling of untrust and uncertainty in the hands of our safety and well-being while playing in this event and our games back home. We hope this situation will bring light to an ongoing problem in the game of football and in our world. Thank you.”
The team “As an organization we stand for our players off and on the pitch. There is no discrimination around competitive play.”
MLS Next is immediately taking action by investigating and issuing suspensions in accordance with the MLS Next disciplinary Code to the offending individuals for violating the MLS NEXT Safety & Well-being Policy.
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