10/15/24 11:37:00
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10/15 23:36 CDT Mexico is struggling to stamp out a homophobic soccer chant
ahead of the World Cup
Mexico is struggling to stamp out a homophobic soccer chant ahead of the World
Cup
By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
GUADALAJARA, Mxico (AP) --- Guadalajara is the capital of a Mexican state that
is home to tequila and Mariachi music. It is also considered the birthplace of
a less flattering tradition --- a homophobic soccer chant that has cost Mexico
hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines over the past two decades.
It came as no surprise that the chant, a one-word slur that literally means
male prostitute in Spanish, was heard from the crowd in Guadalajara's Akron
Stadium in the first half of a match between Mexico and the United States on
Tuesday night.
The Mexican fans yelled it at Matt Turner in the first minute and they did it
again in the 12th minute. After that, the public address system played "Cielito
Lindo," a popular folk song, to drown out the chant.
The fans continued with the chant again in the second half, even with Mexico up
2-0.
Referee Keylor Herrera did not stop the match.
After Mexico's second goal, some fans in the upper deck started jumping and
singing a homophobic song, but they stopped after a couple of minutes.
Multiple sanctions from FIFA and campaigns by Mexican soccer officials to
educate fans have not been able to stamp it out. The chant persists in both
club and national team soccer in Mexico, not least in games between the two
North American rivals who will host the 2026 World Cup together with Canada.
Before Tuesday's match, the screens at the stadium urged fans not to use the
chant and a banner in the stadium asked them to yell "Mexico" instead.
When the U.S. men's team played Mexico, in the CONCACAF Nations League final in
Texas in March, the referee stopped the game twice due to homophobic chanting
by Mexico fans. Last year, a game in Las Vegas between the two sides was cut
short for the same reason.
In Guadalajara, a city with a strong soccer tradition which has two teams in
Mexico's top soccer league and another two in the second division, many local
fans told The Associated Press that they considered the chant to be harmless
and only meant to poke fun at opposing teams.
"Soccer is still a party, and the chant is just for fun. People who yell it
mean no offense to the rival," said Luis Gallardo, a 38-year-old who was
wearing the Mexico national team's black away shirt. "It's been going on for
years and I don't think it's going to change."
The slur, typically used when the opposing goalkeeper takes a goal kick, is
hardly the only offensive chant heard in soccer stadiums worldwide, but its
persistent use at international tournaments has become a costly embarrassment
for the Mexican soccer federation.
The federation has been fined countless times by FIFA for "discriminatory
behavior" by supporters, including 100,000 Swiss francs ($114,000) for two
incidents during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Mexico has appealed those
penalties.
The Mexican soccer federation long argued that the chant wasn't aimed at gays
and that the word had different connotations in contemporary Mexican culture.
However, in recent years the federation launched campaigns to make it go away,
with stadium announcers urging the crowd to refrain from discriminatory chants
and eliciting the help of soccer stars and other celebrities to get the message
across.
The federation in 2022 threatened fans shouting the slur at games with
five-year stadium bans. At the time, then-federation president Yon de Luisa
said regardless of the intention of those using the slur, what matters is how
it's received by others.
"If it is discriminatory, we should avoid it," said De Luisa, who later
resigned after Mexico's poor performance in Qatar where the team was eliminated
in the group stage.
The origin of the chant is somewhat unclear, but it's been traced back to a
2004 Olympic qualifier between Mexico and the U.S. in Guadalajara, the capital
of the state of Jalisco. It then spread to stadiums across Mexico with fans of
Guadalajara soccer club Atlas.
Francisco Acua, a 55-year-old Atlas fan, said the chant was a way for fans to
express emotion during the game and shouldn't be taken too seriously.
"The people who know soccer they know that the game is intense and even players
get hot-headed on the field and then they hug each other at the end of the
match," he said.
Alejandro Oliva, a 40-year-old soccer fan in downtown Guadalajara, said he
didn't understand why some people find the chant offensive.
"It amazes me that outside of Mexico people believe that it's a homophobic
chant. In Mexico it's normal and it does not offend anyone," he said. "I think
that even people from the gay community use the word, and they don't get
aggravated."
Not everyone sees it that way.
"It's clearly homophobic because you are degrading a person with an insult of
sexual and negative connotation," said Andoni Bello, an LGBTQ+ activist and
outspoken critic of the chant who played for Mexico in amateur soccer
tournaments organized by the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association.
He said Mexico must get rid of the chant by the 2026 World Cup when the world's
eyes will be on the country. Mexico is set to host 13 World Cup games,
including four in Guadalajara.
Bello urged tournament organizers to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community for help
in dealing with the issue.
"It's not just taking their pictures and saying that they are against the
homophobia in the stadiums," he said. "There is a real opportunity to educate
the Mexican fan. In the World Cup in '86 we were world famous because of the
?Mexican wave.' We exported a good celebration, let's hope to eradicate the
chant because being known for homophobia is very sad."
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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