The cry “eeeeeh putoooo!”, which began as a mockery of a goalkeeper more than 20 years ago, has become a problem that goes beyond the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) and attacks sexual diversity groups.
Expensive fines and the embarrassing punishment of playing a game behind closed doors against Jamaica last September have not been enough for thousands of fans to desist from the offensive gesture, forcing the FMF to innovate measures to prevent and sanction it.
Sunday’s match against Costa Rica and next Wednesday’s match against Panama, both for the Concacaf qualifier for the Qatar-2022 World Cup, are being played at the Azteca stadium before a controlled group of 2,000 attendees that the FMF may penalize if they throw the controversial cry
To do this, the Federation collected personal and ticket data from each fan and identified them with a QR code that allows offenders to be detected and evicted.
Those who are caught will not be able to enter the stadiums operated by the FMF for five years.
Such strict monitoring saved the Mexican team from playing two games behind closed doors, as FIFA had initially ordered.
For the game against the United States on March 24, the device will be tested with a larger crowd of 35,000 or 40,000 fans.
permissive majority
But recent experience shows that the local fans do not leave the homophobic cry neither in their stadiums nor in World Cups, despite the intense debate generated in the country.
The National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred) has rejected the gesture; while the Supreme Court determined that the expressions that seek to “infer that homosexuality is not a valid sexual option, but rather a condition of inferiority, constitute discriminatory manifestations.”
Referents of Mexican soccer such as coach Miguel Herrera, former Tri coach, maintain that it is part of “colloquial language”, while exporter Oswaldo Sánchez, who motivated the cry in 1999, does not consider it “homophobic, or offensive”.
Ignoring, validating and normalizing it, as Herrera and Sánchez do, is an attack on sexual minorities who also follow and practice sport, says Andony Bello, a gay soccer player.
Creator of the “Tri Gay” brand (a Mexican team made up of amateur soccer players of sexual diversity), Bello criticizes the fact that there are few who put up a fight.
“Only a small sector is upset by the homophobic shouting. That’s the problem! That we are only a small sector that is outraged!” he told AFP.
Bello, captain of the “Tri Gay” between 2007 and 2014, maintains that allowing homophobic shouting and insults in stadiums helps people consider “that it is natural and that it is correct” to always use them.
I respect
The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, described as “idiotic postures” those of those fans who insist on shouting it and the entity has issued warnings, vetoes and economic sanctions to the FMF.
Seventeen fines, for about 656,400 dollars, and the games with restricted access overwhelmed the FMF, whose main concern is losing points that spoil the team’s pass to Qatar-2022.
Another measure to eradicate the expression has been the “Shout Mexico” campaign as a replacement for the shout during goalkeeper clearances.
But the idea does not catch on because the “eeeeeh putoooo!” It is still heard in the stadiums of the Mexican league.
Some fans of El Tri, however, welcome the fact that the FMF controls and punishes offenders.
“This measure is extraordinary,” José Jiménez told AFP before entering the Azteca. “Hopefully the homophobic cry will be eradicated once and for all.”
This is how Yon de Luisa, president of the FMF, wants it.
“We cannot tolerate discriminatory acts, we cannot play in empty stadiums, we cannot put the soccer authorities at risk of taking points away from us,” said the leader, concerned about Mexico’s image as the organizer of the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and the United States.
Soccer players of sexual diversity also want the cry to be eradicated out of respect for their rights and for the country.
“These measures, beyond the shout, are going to benefit us because in a few years we will host the World Cup (…) We have to open ourselves to the world and say ‘come, this is Mexico and in Mexico it is respected,'” said Alan Rosado , coach of the Kraken, a team of gay soccer players from Mexico City.
But others still do not understand.
“That word is in common use. I don’t know where they got that it’s a bad word. We call a bicycle, a car, a compadre, and nothing happens,” said Ismael de Jerez, another Tri fan in The aztec.
