Victor Ozhianvuna

Last Friday turned out to be a bad night for the Blues, but one from which we’ll recover. It wasn’t the result that was the problem and certainly not the team’s performance or the event as a whole. It was a horrible act towards a child that brought shame on the club. It’s sickening to have Waterford’s reputation tarnished by the actions of one or two people, but the blame lies entirely with those culprits and they’ll suffer because of it. 

The fact is that Victor Ozhianvuna, only 16 since January, came to Waterford to play a match and was racially abused. By all accounts, he was very visibly upset and shaken by the abuse and it infuriated his teammates. It’s a very sad episode and the one good thing is that it is being handled carefully and correctly by Waterford FC and others. 

This is a kid from Tallaght, playing for his local club and very proudly representing the country of his birth. We’ll hear an awful lot of his name in years to come and we’ll be glad we got to see him play in his early days. 

Victor is widely-regarded as an exceptional talent. He made his league debut in the amazing spotlight of a 33,000 attendance at the Aviva Stadium in February when Shamrock Rovers lost to Bohemians in the season opener. His European debut came a few days later during the Conference League tie against Molde. He has captained the Ireland Under 15s and won his first cap for our Under 17s in March of this year. All indications suggest we’ll be watching him as a senior international for the Boys in Green in the future.

 

Ozhianvuna (number 10) celebrating with the Ireland U15s last year

 

Arsenal are said to be leading the chase to sign him although many clubs across the continent have expressed interest in the young midfielder. He couldn’t sign for Arsenal or any other British club until he turns 18 in January 2027, but Stephen Bradley still expects a deal to be done “in the near future” on a pre-contract with the minimum fee being mentioned as €1,000,000, but suggestions it could be far higher.

The point, however, is that he doesn’t need to be talented to not be racially abused. If he was just a fan who had come to the RSC to watch a match, he should be able to do it without being attacked. No matter who you are, you deserve that.

This isn’t a straightforward situation so we need to be patient with the outcome. There was some confusion initially over the timing of the abuse and whether there was a single incident or, potentially, two occasions of racist abuse against the same player. There needs to be due process over what is a very serious legal issue with An Garda Siochana, the FAI and Waterford FC all working to investigate with the assistance of Shamrock Rovers. Ozhianvuna’s manager, Stephen Bradley, has said, “Waterford can’t control what some person says inside the ground. You can’t control that. They can act now, which they are, which is great.”

The incident(s) has brought shame on our club and community. Every local and national media outlet has highlighted it, rightly, for days. It’s truly disgusting that a child coming to Waterford to play a game of football had to face racial abuse. Well done to his teammates for rallying to his side and defending him. Whether it’s rare or that it doesn’t represent the whole club doesn’t really matter. It happened. What matters now is that it never happens again.