Football: Mexican players launch campaign against homophobia
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Mexico's national soccer team head coach Juan Carlos Osorio (left) talks with his player Rafael Marquez (2nd left) next to other teammates during a training session in preparation for their qualifying match against Canada.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's national team has launched a campaign to discourage fans from shouting homophobic slurs during football matches.
Some of the players who will face Canada in a World Cup tie on Tuesday (March 29), including Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez, former Barcelona defender Rafael Marquez and PSV Eindhoven's Hector Moreno, read out a manifesto against abuse under the title "Embraced by Football."
"To us, differences are no obstacle. To us, we don't discriminate. To us, we respect everyone's opinion," the players said in a YouTube and social media campaign.
Fifa's Disciplinary Committee ruled two years ago that there would be no punishment for Mexico's FA after Mexican fans chanted the word "puto" - or "faggot" in Spanish - at opposition goalkeepers during the 2014 World Cup.
However, Fifa took a stronger stand this year and Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay, were fined by the governing body for homophobic chanting by fans during World Cup qualifiers.
