“Eeeeh, putoooo!” (“hey whore!”): the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) is taking drastic measures to put an end to the stadiums with this cry deemed homophobic, aimed in particular at the clearances of the opposing goalkeeper, which has already earned him several sanctions from FIFA .
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The “Tri” – the Mexican selection – meets Panama on Wednesday in a quasi-closed door of around 2,000 people, as against Costa Rica on Sunday (0-0), at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City (87,000 people).
The FMF is thus testing a device to easily identify and penalize homophobic supporters, with a QR code on the tickets.
Spectators must now reserve their place online and present an identity document with their tickets at the entrance to the stadiums, the FMF announced in mid-January. Additional security officers are also deployed to identify and evacuate supporters who commit any discriminatory act. The penalty: a five-year stadium ban.
The device will be tested on a higher gauge of 35,000 to 40,000 people on March 24 during the summit match against the United States, potentially decisive in the race for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (Mexico is 3rd and the United States United, second).
Mexico had already paid a fine and played behind closed doors in September against Jamaica by decision of FIFA. In total, the FMF received 17 fines, for a total of $656,400.
“We cannot tolerate discriminatory acts, we cannot play in empty stadiums, we cannot run the risk of the football authorities taking points away from us,” said FMF president Yon de Luisa.
He is also worried about the image of Mexico, co-organizer of the 2026 World Cup with the United States and Canada.
“Common use”
“This measure is extraordinary. Provided that we eradicate once and for all the homophone cry”, declared to AFP a supporter of the Tri, José Jiménez, before entering the Azteca stadium on Sunday for the disappointing good 0 -0 against Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain).
“This word is in common usage. I don’t know what took them to think that it was a swear word”, affirms on the other hand Ismaël de Jerez, another supporter of the “Tri”. “I think they are exaggerating.”
The cry is an attack on homosexual athletes, says Andony Bello.
Founder of the “Tri Gay” (selection of amateur footballers open to sexual diversity), of which he was the captain between 2007 and 2014, Bello regrets leading a solitary fight.
Because “there is only a small sector that homophobic cries bother. That’s the problem!” he said.
“These measures will be beneficial to us, since in a few years we will host the World Cup”, underlines Alan Rosa, coach of the Kraken, a team of gay players from the capital Mexico.
“We must open up to the world and say: + come, this is Mexico, and in Mexico we respect each other,” he adds. Mexico City is a city full of contrasts, between its stadium and the streets of the city center, where young homosexual couples of both sexes walk hand in hand.
Another measure to eradicate homophobic expression, the campaign “Grita México” (the cry of Mexico) launched to replace homophobic shouting, which generally targets each clearance of the opposing goalkeeper.
This “cry” alludes to a famous episode in history. Every September 15, the former Spanish colony celebrates the launch of its war of independence to the cry of “Viva Mexico” launched in 1810 against Madrid by the priest Miguel Hidalgo.
But in the stadiums, the idea does not take since the cry “eh la whore!” still resounds in the stadiums of the local championship.
Penalized today, the “grito” had its defenders in the past. Ex-coach Miguel Herrera believes that “it’s part of the colloquial language”.
This cry also has a story. In the early 2000s, it was launched by supporters of one of Guadalajara’s two clubs, El Atlas, during derbies with Chivas, the other team from Mexico’s second city.
The cry was aimed at goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who had had the bad idea to move from one club to another in the eyes of one of the kops of Atlas supporters, Barra51, after a detour by America de Mexico.