By Edgardo Avelar
07 Aug 2024, 02:10 AM EDT
The board of directors of the Philadelphia Union MLS team decided to publish a statement on social media to denounce the acts of racism committed by Cruz Azul fans against Jamaican-born defender Damion Lowe on several occasions from the Leagues Cup duel that both teams played last Sunday where they tied 1-1 in regular time and that the Máquina Celeste ended up taking the extra point by winning on penalties 5-4, but above all due to messages of this nature on the social networks of the aforementioned player.
The intensity and rivalry between the two teams made tempers rise and what happened on the pitch spread to the stands, where fans of the Mexican team went very hard on the MLS defender Damion Lowe, because he had many personal duels against the Greek Giorgios Giakoumakis, the Argentine Carlos Rotondi, the Uruguayan Ignacio Rivero, among several others that exasperated the spirits and the complaints from the stands of the Cruz Azul fans and these were transferred to the social networks where they continued to attack the player.
The matter seemed to go no further, but because the complaints did not only stay in the stands, but were transferred to the Philadelphia Union defender’s social networks, the management of the Major League Soccer team decided to publish this statement strongly condemning the events. to prevent such racial discrimination from continuing to occur.
The statement said: “Philadelphia Union defender Damion Lowe was the victim of racial abuse via social media following Sunday night’s game against Cruz Azul. The club supports Damion and has reported the post to Major League Soccer and Leagues Cup officials. There is no place for racism in our sport.”
Obviously, the MLS will follow up on this complaint to carry out the corresponding investigations before the authorities, as well as demand that the Liga MX make an appeal to the Cruz Azul board of directors to seek a closer relationship.with their fans and combat this type of discrimination in all its forms.
The MLS, as well as Liga MX, have sought to ensure that the sporting rivalry remains on the playing field and does not escalate to other levels as happened now with the Jamaican Lowe, who was undoubtedly a great player. Headache for Cruz Azul’s forwards, but this type of attack is not justified against a player who only fulfilled his role on the field, serving the interests of his team.
It is expected that In the next few hours, a statement from Cruz Azul will be issued. in the face of these regrettable events that must be eradicated outright.
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