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San Diego's coach Landon Donovan (l.)
Photo:
Gregory Bull / AP
The footballers of San Diego Loyal canceled the game against Phoenix Rising in the second division of the USA because their player Collin Martin was allegedly insulted homophobically by a Phoenix professional.
This is what Martin, who came out as gay in 2018, claimed after his red card in the 45th minute.
At this point, San Diego - placed in midfield in the USL Championship - led 3-1.
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Collin Martin in 2019 for the MLS team Minnesota United
Photo:
Roger Steinman / AP
San Diego is coached by Landon Donovan.
The former Bundesliga professional from Bayer Leverkusen and FC Bayern ended his career in 2019 and founded the club a little later with two other owners.
It was Donovan who forced the game to be abandoned.
Scenes can be seen on social media as he discusses the incident with the referee and Phoenix trainer Rick Schantz and reacts in disbelief to Schantz's qualification ("You only play football, he didn't mean it.").
In a statement by the club, Donovan justified the abandonment of the game with a racist insult against one of his players in the game against the Los Angeles Galaxy reserves a few days earlier.
"We have had a tough week," said Donovan.
"And we decided to act on further incidents and not watch any more."
The club said: "Last week we made it loud and clear that we do not stand for racism or homophobia. Nothing has changed this week."
The league announced that it would investigate the incident.
The game against Phoenix was initially rated as a defeat for San Diego.
After the game, Phoenix professional Junior Flemmings announced on Twitter that he was the accused player, but contradicted the portrayal of Martin and Donovan.
"At no time did I utter a homophobic insult to Collin Martin," said Flemmings' message.
"I don't know Collin personally, but I respect all of my opponents equally, including Collin."
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