Mexican bigots

I have a hard time rooting for Toronto FC these days, but after hearing the nonstop bigotry of Mexicans in Harrison tonight, I sure hope Toronto finishes off Club America and beats the crap out of Chivas 

this won't end well.

Toronto did their part at least.   FIFA made an attempt to stop the Mexicans from yelling "puto" at games at the opposing goalkeeper.   But at Red Bull Arena it seems to be ok.    And it is not just a few folks in the crowd.  It was thousands chanting this.   

instead of continuing to call the offenders "Mexicans," maybe call them Chivas fans?  Or do you think the behavior of those fans represents an entire country?

Outsiders remain shocked at how stubborn Mexican fans are with this, while El Tri stars like Chicharrito have recorded video PSAs begging fans not to say the slur. FIFA has threatened forfeits or matches in empty stadiums. CONCACAF has played messages at games reminding everyone to mind their manners because “OUR children are listening.” Liga MX teams have even gone as far as to try and bribe fans with promises of university scholarships and funds for elementary schools if they stop the chant.

And still, they chant

It’s time to accept the reality: “ehhh, puto” will never go away. It’s Mexico’s Confederate flag—a nasty part of our supposed heritage that no outsider can ever tell us is wrong, and that we grip onto even tighter when they tell us it is. And that stubborn pride will deservedly screw us in the end.

Vulgar, offensive slurs chanted at soccer games.  ¡Qué Sorpresa!

btw, how does shouting puto make you racist?  Is it only yelled at white players?

Same thing happened when Red Bulls played Tijuana.  

drummerboy said:

btw, how does shouting puto make you racist?  Is it only yelled at white players?

Depending on the country, it might be homophobic.  In Mexico, it might mean traitor or coward.  In any case, I don't think it is racist.

The OP said bigoted.  A more accurate description of the "eeh puto" chant could be homophobic.

drummerboy said:
btw, how does shouting puto make you racist?  Is it only yelled at white players?

Years ago we went to see the Orioles play.  It was an away game.  They were playing in Boston.  The fans cursed and booed the Orioles.  They cursed and booed the Red Sox.  They threw $5 beers.  And these weren't $5 beers in today's money, this was 1988, though I have to take my mother's word on that part since I was too young to buy beer.  

Though to be fair, this was a few decades ago, so I'm sure today's Red Sox fans clap politely and drink herbal tea at the games, and the worst thing you'll hear being yelled is "By gosh, that was disappointing"

spontaneous said:
Years ago we went to see the Orioles play.  It was an away game.  They were playing in Boston.  The fans cursed and booed the Orioles.  They cursed and booed the Red Sox.  They threw $5 beers.  And these weren't $5 beers in today's money, this was 1988, though I have to take my mother's word on that part since I was too young to buy beer.   Though to be fair, this was a few decades ago, so I'm sure today's Red Sox fans clap politely and drink herbal tea at the games, and the worst thing you'll hear being yelled is "By gosh, that was disappointing"

Or they could just do the Amercan version of the cheer, which is exactly the same except replaces "puto" with "a**hole"

Looking at this from an anthropology point of view, humans have evolved from warring against rival groups on a regular basis, to today where at least a superficial attempt is made to not break into small groups and kill each other (no comment on breaking off into bigger groups and killing each other under state sanctioned wars...)  But our underlying blood lust remains.  One way that leaders have found to satisfy that blood lust without losing complete control over their subjects is through sports.  The Romans did it, the Mayans did it, the Chinese did it.  I'm not saying I approve, but I do understand.   Today the sports industry may be self controlling, and is no longer part of the government, but our reaction to the rivalries as human animals to it is the same.  So yes, you will see some very bad behavior by fans at sports games

I think the bad behavior certainly deserves condemnation in the strongest terms. I just have an issue with calling the offenders "Mexicans" instead of "Mexican soccer fans."  Smearing an entire country for the behavior of the fans of its sports teams is its own type of bigotry.

I guess this is fair.  There's a long history of violent hooliganism by English, Dutch and other national soccer fans.  They are usually discussed as an unpleasant subculture, not national representatives.    

ml1 said:

I think the bad behavior certainly deserves condemnation in the strongest terms. I just have an issue with calling the offenders "Mexicans" instead of "Mexican soccer fans."  Smearing an entire country for the behavior of the fans of its sports teams is its own type of bigotry.

The article above referenced Confederate flags in the U.S.  Do the people who wave them represent an entire country?  Of course not.

bub said:
I guess this is fair.  There's a long history of violent hooliganism by English, Dutch and other national soccer fans.  They are usually discussed as an unpleasant subculture, not national representatives.    

ml1 said:

I think the bad behavior certainly deserves condemnation in the strongest terms. I just have an issue with calling the offenders "Mexicans" instead of "Mexican soccer fans."  Smearing an entire country for the behavior of the fans of its sports teams is its own type of bigotry.

spontaneous said:
Though to be fair, this was a few decades ago, so I'm sure today's Red Sox fans clap politely and drink herbal tea at the games, and the worst thing you'll hear being yelled is "By gosh, that was disappointing"

That's not far from how the Canadians acted at a Blue Jays game I attended in Toronto.

The general consensus is that 'puto' is homophobic in this context. If you were a causal observer and translating it and not trying to overtly avoid being called homophobic you'd most likely translate to into English as 'f*gg*t', so it's a slur beyond what I process as 'stadium language'. It's certainly not something I think is very welcome at RBA. They regularly fly a pride flag in the South Ward and the league has had an openly gay player. I think Red Bull fans care more about inclusion than the 'average sports fan' so some stuff is off limits.

I did refer to the "Mexicans in Harrison"   I did mean the fans at the game.     Soccer fans, and sometimes in other sports, often the fans yell or sing in unison so that it is clear and audible, including on TV.  For the World Cup the powers that be will not like this.    At Red Bull Arena, they did work with the Red Bulls Supporters to get them to stop yelling "you s*ck assh*le"  And to some degree it worked