Why did the New York Red Bulls withdraw their youth teams from the Generation Adidas Cup?

The specter of racism has once again reared its ugly head and this time at youth level. The New York Red Bulls – to their credit – won’t tolerate it.

Paul RudderEnglish_ASUpdate: Apr 6th, 2024 12:12 EDT0

X @NewYorkRedBulls

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of what has allegedly occurred, is the fact that it involves players who are participating at youth level, something that demonstrates racism is not limited to adults who lack education, but also adolescents who are affected by that lack of learning as well.

Red Bulls pull youth teams from tournament after racial abuse

According to reports, the New York Red Bulls have withdrawn their U15 and U17 teams from the Generation Adidas Cup tournament following two alleged incidents of racial abuse against their players. The decision comes after the team alleged that U17 defender Eric Tai received racial abuse from a player with the Croatian side Hajduk Split. To be clear, the player in question was sent off by the referee, who heard and recognized the racist language allegedly being directed at Tai.

New York Red Bulls have withdrawn their U15s & U17s teams from the Generation Adidas Cup because of "racist incidents".MLS Next officials are investigating three claims of discriminatory language towards some members of the NYRB's U17s team.#HateWontWin pic.twitter.com/5pmsiVtqQL

— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) April 5, 2024

Sadly, the incident comes on the heels of another that occurred on Monday, when U17 goalkeeper Joshua Grant alleged that he was racially abused by a player from Mexico’s CF Monterrey. On that occasion, no official heard the language used such that the incident was not addressed on an official level. Be that as it may, a Red Bulls coach reported the incident to the match official which in turn resulted in an investigation being launched by MLS Next. It should also be said, that CF Monterrey suspended the player who was accused.

What have the Red Bulls said?

Given the sensitive nature of the situation, one can imagine that a clear and concise response was always going to be required. Yet, before one was given, it’s worth noting that the Red Bulls U17 players themselves released a statement on Thursday in which they criticized MLS for not taking action: “What has happened these past two games is completely inappropriate and has changed our team forever,” said the players. “The extreme lack of action taken by the league is unacceptable and has left a feeling of untrust and uncertainty in 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.”

pic.twitter.com/MdjVnRr4Sa

— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) April 5, 2024

That statement was then followed by an official statement from the club itself on Friday saying, “There is no room for discrimination around competitive play” before announcing that they would be withdrawing their teams from the tournaments as a consequence. Then, there was also MLS Next, the league’s youth soccer academy, which had its own response to the allegations stating that there were in fact three incidents of racial abuse as opposed to two, before addressing the Red Bulls’ decision to withdraw from the tournament: