By Natasha Gordon of 
Photo: 123RF
An investigation has been launched by an Auckland football association after multiple under-13 players were allegedly subject to a "racist remark" by an adult referee during a match.
The two South Auckland under-13 teams played in a Northern Region Football (NRF) competition game on Saturday when the alleged incident occurred.
During the tense match, a few calls were made that one of the teams disagreed with.
A player told the Herald the referee then allegedly said they, along with their parents, should "go back to wherever you guys come from".
His father, who wanted to stay anonymous, heard from another parent that their son was also told, "shut up and go back to wherever you're from, you Indian."
The team is predominantly made up of New Zealand-born children with immigrant parents, the father said.
"The boys are used to not being allowed to talk back to the ref because they will get kicked from the field.
"They weren't given an opportunity to speak up because they kept getting shut down.
"Obviously, it's not okay for players to argue with the ref but they [the ref] really need to know a limit on what is acceptable."
The father said he is in an online group with parents from the team who confirmed their sons heard these remarks multiple times.
Parents have formulated a complaint with club officials and have lodged it with the NRF board.
Many of the boys had been "rejected for looking different from other players" in previous teams they had played for, he said.
"I'm concerned that these boys might see this behaviour as normal and won't speak up."
The father is aware that some players have said they may give up the sport in the new season.
One of the clubs said in a statement that it was aware of the allegations and had started investigating to establish what happened, saying it expects all its members and volunteers to abide by their and NZF Codes of Conduct.
"We do not tolerate any behaviour that undermines the rights, dignity or worth of others, or that negatively impacts diversity or inclusion in the sport."
The other club added: "We have submitted our incident report from the match to NRF our governing body & will await their outcomes".
'No place for racism' - NRF responds to allegations
NRF CEO Laura Menzies said it received an incident report from the match and will now start to investigate the allegations through the Disciplinary Committee.
"There's absolutely no place for racism or discrimination in our competitions - football is a game where everyone should feel supported and safe.
"We know clubs don't stand for this either and volunteers do great work to set expectations of what's acceptable and make sure everyone is safe and supported in their environments.
"NRF operates under the NZF Disciplinary Code that says insulting behaviour by anyone in the game including officials could be subject to disciplinary measures."
NRF Communications Manager Richard Irvine was very disappointed to hear of these allegations, especially at a U13 game. He had heard of incidents like this happening at adult games previously.
- This article was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.
