Mexico to Play World Cup Qualifiers in Empty Stadium After Anti-Gay Chants

[reader]

From ESPN

Mexico's men's national team will play its next two home games behind closed doors due to a recurrence of an anti-gay chant during the CONCACAF pre-Olympic qualifying tournament, FIFA announced Friday.

A fine of roughly $65,000 was also attached to the ruling, and further sanctions were threatened, including a points reduction.

"The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Federation with a fine of 60,000 Swiss francs and the condition that they play their next two official home games behind closed doors as a consequence of the anti-gay chants heard in the matches against the Dominican Republic and the United States, played in Guadalajara on March 18 and 24, respectively," the FIFA statement said.

Mexico's next two official home games are World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica on Sept. 2 and Canada on Oct. 7.

According to FIFA's statutes on discrimination, more severe punishments may be given for future breaches in order to stamp out the behavior. Those include a reduction in points in official tournaments, including World Cup qualifiers, or Mexico being banned entirely from any tournament under FIFA's purview, including the World Cup itself.

"Additionally, the committee has opened a second disciplinary dossier in relation to the anti-gay chants heard from Mexican fans in a friendly played against Iceland in Arlington, Texas on May 29," the statement continued.

Mexico manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino expressed concern about the ramifications if the chant continued.

"I want to call on our fans to reflect on what these attitudes create for us. It pulls our team away from its fans. It means we play in empty stadiums and even that we could miss out on an international competition," Martino said.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/mexico-mex/story/4413264/mexico-sanctioned-by-fifa-for-recurrence-of-fans-anti-gay-chant

[PeterRS]

That article gives no reason for the homophobic chants. Has one or more of the Mexican players come out as gay?

[reader]

8 hours ago, PeterRS said:

That article gives no reason for the homophobic chants. Has one or more of the Mexican players come out as gay?

Good question. I found this video on YouTube that claims that eight pro male footballers have come out:

 

According to USA Today, "Mexican fans have a history of using the homophobic chant that translates to male prostitute which has largely gone unpunished. Between November 2015 and March 2017, the country was cited for improper fan behavior nine times. Anti-gay chants were the cause for eight of those citations."

(Puto is the masculine form of the multi-functional Spanish puta, meaning " prostitute." It's used as a slur against people who are gay and an insult to anyone perceived as weak or contemptible.)

Outsports reports "While some people push back against the notion that calling someone a “male prostitute” (English translation for “puto”) is anti-gay, that ship has sailed long ago. Most recently, Major League Soccer fined and suspended USMNT player Sebastian Lletget for directing the slur toward a teammate in a private setting (and then sharing it on Instagram)."

 

[NIrishGuy]

21 hours ago, reader said:

From ESPN

Mexico manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino expressed concern about the ramifications if the chant continued.

"I want to call on our fans to reflect on what these attitudes create for us. It pulls our team away from its fans. It means we play in empty stadiums and even that we could miss out on an international competition," Martino said.

So he basically said "think on guys, this could cost us points!" - But at no time ( in the above comments anyway) did he actually say "Look please STOP doing this guys, it is wrong and it's not what we ever want to hear from you!"    Interesting.    Perhaps THAT is the message the Mexican Football Federation should be reinforcing more forcibly to it's supporters and enough with the carefully clinically worded PR statements !