Football is supposed to unite.
Football is supposed to be for everybody.
Football is the universal game that reminds us we are all on this same planet together.
In Lancaster this past winter my ears heard it from one of the parents in a U9 pool play game. Luckily the little GK didn’t speak Spanish and after hearing it once I looked at the parent and walked over to the home team coach to advise any further chanting would result in the match being halted until the offender was removed from his own child’s game.
So what is this all about?
Fans yelled “puto” — a homophobic slur – when United States goalkeeper Matt Turner launched the ball up the field and the game was briefly stopped while warnings were given to the supporters.
The “puto” slur means male prostitute but in Mexican Spanish it roughly translates as “faggot,” and is widely used to insult someone’s masculinity.
The chant has long been a problem for Mexico’s Football Federation who have been fined on several occasions and who have urged supporters to stop the practice.
CONCACAF issued a statement after the game at the Allegiant Stadium, which was won 3-0 by the United States saying they “strongly condemned” what it called “discriminatory chanting”.
“Chants heard during the game led to the activation of the anti-discrimination protocol by the match officials. Additionally, security staff ejected several fans for engaging in unacceptable behaviour in the stadium,” said the confederation, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
“These incidents were extremely disappointing and tarnished what should have been a positive occasion to showcase high-quality football in our region,” the statement added.
“The Confederation is in the process of urgently establishing further details and reports from security and match officials and will make a further statement in short order”.
The multiple fines handed to Mexico over several years, total over $650,000 and they were forced to play without fans against Jamaica in September 2021.
Mexican Football Federation (FMF) introduced a system of online ticket registration and QR codes for attendees at its home games in a bid to identify and ban any offenders and deter use of the chant.
This last weekend in a GPSL game a player who was not Mexican decided to shout this word after missing a shot in front of a several Hispanic children who were watching the game from directly behind the goal.
What would you do as the official?!?!
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