Orbán defends soccer fans who booed kneeling Irish players

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday defended the soccer fans who booed the Irish national team while they were kneeling as a sign of solidarity against racism at a game this week.

The incident occurred during Tuesday’s friendly match against Hungary.

“Politics has no place in sports,” Orbán said during a government news conference.

Before the match, the Hungarian soccer federation had already released a statement indicating that the country’s national team would not kneel.

Orbán said Hungarians only kneel before God, before their country, and when they ask for the hand of their lovers.

He also said Hungarians do not have the moral duty of those from countries that had slavery.

“Hungary has never been a slave-keeping country,” he said. “We cannot feel that moral weight that those countries do.”

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports