“Fin acknowledges this and is prepared to accept any punishment that comes his way,” Gill said.
“He is genuinely sorry for what he’s said and wants to own his mistake. Fin has agreed for us to speak out publicly so his teammates aren’t suspected of doing anything wrong.”
Gill believes the comments don’t reflect the club’s culture, but is still working to ensure “homophobic abuse is stamped out of football”.
“We believe there needs to be further education for our young footballers in Aotearoa,” he said.
“We have a sports psychologist and a chaplain at the academy, but it’s clear we need to do more. We will review all of our processes and will work with Rainbow Youth to ensure we’re better at educating our young players.”
Gill said Conchie is “still a part of the club” so the standard duty of care is still applied to him to help with his personal development.
“He is a young man who has made a mistake, but we as a club are also responsible so we’ll work together to ensure there’s no repeat of such behaviour at the Wellington Phoenix,” Gill said.
Just last month, the All Whites refused to return to the pitch at half-time when a player on the opposition verbally abused defender Michael Boxall.
In the match at the 40-minute mark against Qatar in Austria, Yusuf Abdurisag made a racist comment after the free kick he was awarded was questioned by the All Whites.
Referee Manuel Schuttengruber took no action, despite an extended chat with skipper Joe Bell, with the halftime whistle blown soon afterwards. The two teams left the field, with the All Whites deciding, after a team meeting, not to return.
New Zealand Football has said the All Whites have their full backing.
“We fully support the action of our players, who agreed collectively to this course of action,” New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell said in a statement.
“We never want to see a match abandoned but some issues are bigger than football and it is important to make a stand.
