“It was like something out of Mississippi Burning,” says Ken McCue, recalling one incident that sticks with him, referencing the 1988 film about racist violence in the American South.
Teboga Sebala, who was then aged 13, was verbally abused by a group of teenagers during a Gaelic football match in Carlow in 2008. McCue says that every time Sebala received the ball he was subjected to the same racist taunt from the teenagers on the sidelines urging violence against him.
McCue has been involved in battling racism in Irish sport for decades and has dealt with scores of young black players, many of whom have suffered racist abuse on the pitch and from the sidelines. Asked if the problem shows any sign of abating, he scoffs. “Social media is the big one now – it’s incredible what goes on there,” he says.
Recent events, at home and abroad, have brought a new focus on to this sort of behaviour. When Edwin Edogbo made his international debut with the Irish rugby team against Italy on February 14th, racist comments were posted beneath the official Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) posts on social media networks X and Instagram welcoming him to the fold.
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Born in Cobh, Co Cork to Nigerian parents, the 23-year-old played his part in the victory over Italy. The comments were described by the IRFU as “cowardly”.
At IRFU headquarters they are awaiting an update from the UK-based Signify Group which is employed by the organisation to investigate online abuse against players, match officials and staff.
It has been analysing the abuse directed at Edogbo which, according to IRFU director of communications Aoife Clarke, appears to have been a “large, co-ordinated attack”.
“It can be traced to accounts that were set up in the past couple of months, so clearly they are not genuine ones,” she says.
“A couple of accounts do seem to be based in Ireland but obviously it will take time to investigate. Signify builds a case and then we discuss what the next steps might be. Do we contact the police? Can we trace any of these people through our own system? Do they have a season ticket, for example?”
The rugby organisation also uses the Arwen moderation system designed to seek out racist and offensive comments online. This is imperfect, though, as many commentators use ambiguous language that might be missed by technology.
“A lot of these commentators are quite clever in the language that they use,” says Clarke. “They’ll say things like ‘what part of Ireland is he from?’ But between the two services we feel we are well covered.”
Racism in sport has also been in the headlines internationally recently. Real Madrid star forward Vinícius Junior alleged he was racially abused by the Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni during a Champions League match last week. The Benfica player was provisionally suspended for the return leg on Wednesday, although he still trained with his team-mates on the Madrid pitch in advance of the game.
Vinícius Junior has been repeatedly targeted with racist language and gestures during his time in Spain.
Irish soccer has struggled with racism too. Isreal Ibeanu is an FAI referee who moved from Nigeria to Ireland as a child. Before taking up the whistle, he was a key player at the Insaka-Glentoran academy team set up by McCue in the late 2000s – an intercultural soccer club which was home to many players from the African diaspora.
“We stood out like a sore thumb as a very diverse team,” he says.
The majority were of African descent but there were also Romanians, Lithuanians and Serbians.
“The reasons we played together was that we felt there was a little bit more transparency when it came to team selection and we were all a little bit more protected.”
[ Quiet desperation: Why no one speaks up about racism in IrelandOpens in new window ]
Ibeanu says the team occasionally faced outright racism, particularly if they played well. He recalls a game in Co Meath where his team-mates were targeted with violent challenges. The game was abandoned as the two teams clashed and “wild statements” were made afterwards, he said.
“They were saying we had knives, that baby strollers were being thrown about. A lot of stupidity. We didn’t play in that cup again,” he says.
A lot of our guys would react to the abuse they were getting on the pitch from opponents. They would end up getting a red card for reacting – but not the perpetrators
— Ken McCue
On the edges of that team was Toyosi Shittabey. Aged 15, he was stabbed to death in Tyrellstown in northwest Dublin in 2010 while walking home from the National Aquatic Centre. Ibeanu says the youngster was always at training and matches but was too young to make the team. His murder had a profound impact on the players.
“After the death of ‘Toy’, the team went through hardship,” says Ibeanu. “We took two weeks’ off playing – and when we went back into it everyone became extra protective about things we would hear and things that were being said.
“We were trying to protect one another during and after games. We didn’t have any outlet or anyone to talk to about these things – everyone was angry”.
He believes the fatal stabbing of Shittabey – and the tensions that followed – eventually led to a wider disillusionment among the squad.
“We didn’t feel safe going back to play for another team again. We just left football completely – none of us within that team continued playing.”
McCue, who spent much time on the sidelines watching the team, said there were 30 players in the academy and “almost all of the African players had been abused”.
“A lot of our guys would react to the abuse they were getting on the pitch from opponents. They would end up getting a red card for reacting – but not the perpetrators,” he says.
McCue says he was in contact with the Dublin and District Schoolboys League most Monday mornings, appealing the red cards handed out. He says some sporting groups have “sat on” complaints and reports of racism and attitudes in certain clubs have been questionable.
The key to addressing the problem lies in education at an early age, he says, highlighting the work of Sports Against Racism in Ireland (SARI), which he cofounded in 1997.
“SARI goes into schools to talk to children around 11 and 12 years old; research shows that is the age where unconscious bias starts to emerge – particularly among boys,” he says.
Perry Ogden, chief executive of SARI, says racism is “worse” now compared to when the organisation was established.
“I guess we didn’t have the social media we have now,” he says.
While racist incidents and attitudes still pervade, says Ogden, he sees some positive changes within the umbrella sporting organisations.
“In the very early days of SARI, the IRFU, under a different regime, said: ‘Why are you coming to us – there is no racism in rugby’,” he says.
“Social media is very difficult to police, but the IRFU seem to be doing a lot of good work on this. That’s a positive.
“We all want the social media organisations to take more responsibility themselves, but what chance is there of that? It’s good to see the IRFU doing that because these things need to be challenged.”
The GAA has been working with SARI to develop training and awareness courses for its members. In 2020, it launched a Responding to Racism educational and awareness campaign with the organisation, along with plans for online antiracism training sessions. It says any sectarian or racist behaviour “shall be deemed to have discredited the association”.
As a football referee, Ibeanu says the abuse he receives on the field is not much different from that faced by all referees – and there is little overt racism involved. However, he only knows of two other black referees in the country – and very few coaches – and wonders if many black people still find soccer a cold house.
In his spare time he also runs the Titans Athletics Club in Blanchardstown, west Dublin. He takes some hope from the fact that young people of African heritage are still motivated to one day represent Ireland on the track and field.
But, after seeing the racist abuse meted out to sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke following the European Athletics Championship in 2024, this comes with a caveat.
“They look up to Rhasidat and other black athletes representing Ireland, but they also don’t want to be the one who drops the baton,” he says. “They are open to and aware of the racism that is going to come their way if they don’t perform well or do well. They are preparing their minds for that.”
