Honduras Pre-Olympic Match Abandoned due to Racism

[nolando]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57873819

As was the case with the Cavani/Suarez news some months back, the common (in some countries, at least) Spanish-language practice of referring to people very bluntly by their visual appearance is rearing its head in the media more regularly, I see.

When I lived in Ecuador many years ago, anyone even slightly heavy was often publicly called "fatso", anybody with Asian features was "chino" and anyone with darker skin was called "negro". Especially prevalent when playing futbol in the park and in the supporters sections watching live matches.

The Honduran federation seems to be trying to explain it away as a "misunderstanding" , incidentally the same frequent excuse I heard when I lived in Japan a few years later and saw blackface regularly on tv.

This is especially interesting from a MNT perspective as we could reasonably envision a situation where we might play away to a Mexico or Honduras in an empty stadium as sanctioned by FIFA because of a racial or homophobic slur. 

Edited July 17, 2021 by nolando