Mexican fans during a national team game in Denver, Colorado, in early June.Helen H. Richardson / Denver Post via Getty Images
The loop of the controversial cry of "fucking" seemed to have no way out.
Up to now.
FIFA has raised the tone and the Disciplinary Committee has taken action: Mexico will not be able to count on fans in its next two home matches.
This is the first major punishment by the body to sanction the Mexican Football Federation for the behavior of its fans.
If the insult continues in the stands, the penalties can escalate to reduction of points and, in a serious case, to exclude them from an international competition, such as the Qatar World Cup 2022.
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"On behalf of Mexican football and all the fans that want to see our national team competing in the Qatar World Cup, please stop the shout of fucking, in addition to being discriminatory, far from identifying ourselves as a great hobby is distancing us from the selection. What for some seems to be fun today I have news for you: it is not. It is taking them away from the stadiums. Please stop ”, asked this Friday the president of the Federation, Yon de Luisa. The fan veto matches will be against Jamaica (September 2) and Canada (October 7).
The Federation has also received a fine of 1.5 million pesos (more than 72,000 dollars) for the scream that was heard during the Concacaf Pre-Olympic tournament that was held in Guadalajara (Jalisco), at the end of last March. They specifically dealt with the matches against the Dominican Republic and the United States. FIFA has warned that more sanctions will come because in a friendly against Iceland, on May 29, the insult was heard again.
“We have made a firm position: we reject any type of violent or discriminatory conduct in each of the stadiums where our teams or clubs play. And urging the fans to avoid this type of demonstration, ”added de Luisa. “I think [the fans] are great when it comes to breath. Footballers feel the support of our people. Ask them to focus on the selection. The truth is that we have a great concern for everything that is to come, for the sanctions that we may suffer, "said Tata Martino, coach of Mexico.
The cry of "fucking" began to be heard in Mexican stadiums for more than a decade. He started in the Mexican League and has moved everywhere the Mexican team goes. Every time a rival goalkeeper takes a serve, the fans try to deconcentrate him with the insult. The word "puto" is a pejorative way to refer to homosexuals in Mexico. The fans have defended the shout under the argument that it is part of the folklore of Mexican soccer and that it is not anything derogatory. FIFA, however, has been opposed and has been dedicated since 2014 to eradicate it. It was at the World Cup in Brazil when the warnings began that escalated to economic sanctions and, now, with games without fans. The next punishment will be for Mexico to lose points towards the World Cup.
During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA warned that if the fans returned with the insult they could be removed from the stadium. In the whole tournament there was no incident with this guy and it seemed that the stain of sanctions had been removed. Since 2019, protocols have been established against any discriminatory conduct throughout Mexican soccer. They have insisted on ending the bad attitude of the fans with several campaigns by Mexican soccer players in each of the stadiums and on social media.
At the beginning of June, Concacaf promoted the
What's wrong is wrong
campaign
, in which it tried to ask, once again, that in no stadium in the United States did Mexican or Latino fans cry out of "fucking".
They have implemented a protocol in which if the scream is heard the game will be suspended for a few minutes, if they repeat the game can be terminated and held, without an audience, the next day.
Whether it is a friendly or an official match.
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