A chant using the Spanish word for homosexual prostitute is being condemned by team officials and fan club leaders for the Sacramento Republic FC, the capital’s new minor league soccer franchise.
The P— word slur is a common cheer by fans at Mexico soccer games and it has now been adopted by soccer fans in Sacramento. According to Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee, the tradition in Mexico is: “As the opposing team’s goalie lines up to kick the ball downfield, the crowd rises and chants, “Aaaahhhhhhhhh,” as he runs toward the ball. When his foot makes impact, they scream: “P—!”
Of course traditions that are culturally okay in one country are not so okay in another. That is certainly the case in this instance as many fans in California’s capital city have expressed their discomfort with the constant refrain. “I noticed it in the first half (of the April 26 game),” said Brian Trainer, a member of the a raucous fan group for the Republic known as the Tower Bridge Battalion, the Bee reports. “It spread and spread and the guy on my left was getting upset. To him, it was a problem. There were even arguments in the crowd – ‘No, it means this. No it means that.’ ”
Meanwhile, Luis Huerta, 21, was born in Mexico, raised in Sacramento and a huge Republic fan explained to the Bee‘s Marcus Breton, “The game is engraved in people’s blood… “People feel empowered by their emotions and not by the logic that they are offending people. … But when I first heard the chant here, I knew it was going to be a problem.”
Photo: Sacramento Republic FC
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