Football: AFC apologises for ‘editorial mistake’

DUBAI: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) apologised for racist remarks it made about the UAE national team, referring to them as ‘sand monkeys’. “AFC apologises for an editorial mistake in which the UAE national team was inadvertently referred to by an inaccurate nickname on the AFC’s official website,” read the statement. It said the comment was due to an ‘error, which was mainly because of referral to a popular web-based encyclopaedia’ and that it ‘was corrected immediately after it was noticed’. The AFC said it was sorry for ‘any hurt this might have caused to the UAE Football Association and UAE football fans’. The apology came just a day after the UAE football federation publicly accused the AFC of racism and demanded an apology.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.