In an article posted Tuesday on the Toronto Sun's website, writer Kurt Larson poured gasoline on the smoldering embers of the controversy sparked by American forward Sydney Leroux in the aftermath of the United States' 3-0 victory over Canada at BMO Field in Toronto on June 2.
The provocatively titled article asserts that "U.S. Soccer" -- the United States Soccer Federation, presumably -- "stands by Leroux's racism allegations".
Sadly, the article is forced to admit that what the chants were "remains somewhat murky" and that "we'll never know if any chants of a racist nature did or didn't rain down out west".
Of course we won't, so long as Ms. Leroux and the USSF do not deign to tell anyone what the chants actually were. The quoted official, USSF spokesperson Neil Buethe, is happy to opine that "[they] believe that Sydney heard some things (at B.C. Place) that were probably over the line" yet what those things were and where that line is remains, as yet, unstated.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
So, considering that they have made an allegation that Canadian supporters engaged in racist chants, it is past time that Sydney Leroux and the USSF answered three questions:
1) What, specifically, was the nature of the "racist chants", referenced in your tweet of June 3rd, that you allege were directed at you during Olympic qualifying matches held in Vancouver in 2012?
2) Who, beyond Ms. Leroux, heard the chants and are they willing to corroborate her allegation?
3) Were the alleged chants reported to match officials or tournament organizers at the time? If not, why not?
Let us be clear: there are racists in Canada and there is very little that could be done to stop them from buying tickets to a soccer match. Anyone who believes otherwise is either guilty of ignorance or being willfully naive. It's even possible that racists could or have attached themselves to Canada's soccer support. Suggestions that it "couldn't" or "wouldn't" happen in Canada are unrealistic and inappropriate.
There's probably even a reasonable discussion to be had as to whether or not the hyper-nationalistic environment of international football is something that might encourage the adoption and expression of racist attitudes. Unfortunately, that's well beyond the scope of this discussion.
Each of the above questions goes to a specific point that should bring clarity (and hopefully a greater degree of closure) to the issue.
The first gets the most salient facts on the table for discussion.
The implication of Larson's article is that the alleged racist chants may have pertained to Ms. Leroux's relationship with her father. While it is entirely possible for reasonable people to disagree over whether or not that is appropriate in of itself, it is unfair to argue that criticism, by Canadian supporters, of Ms. Leroux's decision to represent the nation of her father is intrinsically racist.
Further, to conflate the above with the actual racist abuse Ms. Leroux has undoubtedly received via Twitter is dangerous along at least two dimensions.
First, it needlessly smears a large number of decent Canadian soccer supporters, who likely find racism abhorrent, with a vastly overreaching allegation. Second, by stretching the definition of racism into something that most people would find unrecognizable as such it diminishes the significance of accusations of actual racism.
If Ms. Leroux interpreted certain songs sung by Canadian soccer supporters as racist because she associated them with actual racial abuse she had received in relation to her family background, it is not up to her to label the people singing those songs as racists.
If there were racist chants it's time to state what they were, and why nothing was done about them.