FIFA Twitch Streamer’s Team Pulls From $1M Tourney Over Racism

A football team owned by FIFA streamer Edwin Castro has withdrawn from an inaugural football tournament after a team member allegedly used a racial slur against an opposing player during a match.

Dallas United took on West Ham United FC in the inaugural Football Tournament (or TST), a 7v7 tournament with a $1 million prize for the winning team taking place in Cary, North Carolina on June 1. The Dallas team, made up of “primarily Dallas-area amateur players,” according to ESPNwere leading 2-0 in the game against West Ham when the incident allegedly took place.

Video clips on social media show West Ham players gathered around the match referee, with centre-back and former English Premier League player Anton Ferdinand at the center of it all. A clip appears to show Ferdinand telling the referee “I’m here to set a precedent now”, before the whole team decides to walk off the pitch. While it’s unclear what was allegedly said, chatter on social media and on sites like The daily mail suggest word was thrown about Ferdinand by a Dallas United player.

The official TST Twitter account later shared an update, saying it had “[conducted] an investigation into the final moments of the match between West Ham United and Dallas United” and “concluded that Dallas United had breached TST’s code of conduct”.

“We have spoken with the leaders of both clubs and we all agree that the best way forward is Dallas United’s withdrawal from the competition,” the statement also read.

Although Castro’s Dallas team initially shared a tweet stating that they had launched their own internal investigation into what happened during the game and were “fully cooperating” with TST’s investigation, a subsequent tweet seemed to suggest the team’s position was that the “accusation” against them is false. “In light of the shadow cast by an opposing player’s accusation during tonight’s game, the Dallas United players have unanimously decided to withdraw from the rest of the competition,” reads the statement. a tweet posted just hours after the first. Kotaku has reached out to TST and Castro for comment.

Castro has 3.5 million followers on his Twitch account and over 1.5 million on Twitter. He is best known for his FIFA streams. In a March 7 video posted to Dallas United’s Twitter account, Castro likens owning the team to “[playing] FIFA in real life.

As reported by ABC 11, the North Carolina branch of the news agency, Ferdinand spoke to reporters after West Ham’s final game on June 2, praising TST’s quick response to the allegations. “I have to say publicly that the topic of conversation that came out yesterday is better than football. The way TST handled it so quickly, the sensible action, a lot of people around the world, organizations around the world, can take note,” he said.

West Ham and their opponents reportedly took a knee in solidarity ahead of Friday’s game, with Ferdinand’s side considering not continuing the tournament after the racist incident. “When someone of white origin hears someone of my origin talking about [such racism], it’s almost like it’s a broken record, we’ve heard that before. But when you hear it from someone who looks like you, it makes you take notice. So I think everyone needs to come together to fight collectively. And if we do, football can be the catalyst for change in society. But society is going to have to want to change with that,” Ferdinand said at the press conference.

As reported by the BBCFerdinand isn’t the only former professional footballer to take part in the tournament – Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Cesc Fabregas are also among them, and professional clubs Borussia Dortmund and Wrexham (owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney) also have teams. who represent them.

It’s also, sadly, not the first time Ferdinand has faced racism as a black man in football. According to the BBC, a former Chelsea player was fined and banned from four matches in 2011 for abusing his race while defending Queens Park Rangers. Racism has no place in football, games or otherwise.