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Black and Latino soccer players were heckled with monkey noises and barking during a championship game in California — behavior condemned by the state’s high school sports governing body as “unacceptable” and by the players’ coach as “blatant racism.”
The jeers were heard Saturday during the Northern California championship game between Buchanan High School of Clovis and Oak Ridge High School of El Dorado Hills.
The “high-pressure game” resulted in a penalty kick shootout, Buchanan girls soccer head coach Jasara Gillette said in a statement, and that’s when the heckling was heard coming from the stands.
“Our third kicker, who is of African American descent, was subjected to monkey noises and gestures that came from the Oak Ridge stand as she took her PK,” or penalty kick. “The player before her who is Hispanic was also barked at,” Gillette said. Read more.
