‘Gorilla’ grunts, ‘burrito’ slurs mar games. Fresno-area soccer teams should get wins

It seems incomprehensible that, in 2022, high school student-athletes would be subjected to racial heckling and slurs yelled at them during a game. But that is exactly what happened to soccer teams from Buchanan and Sanger high schools this past week.

One incident involved the CIF’s Northern California Division 1 girls final between Buchanan High of Clovis and the home team, Oak Ridge, which was held in the Sacramento area on Saturday, in El Dorado Hills.

The game was closely fought, with the teams having to play beyond regulation time, overtime, and into penalty kicks to determine the winner. For the non-soccer fan, penalty kick shootouts are where individual players from each team take turns trying to shoot the ball past the opposing goalie. The team that converts the most penalty kicks wins the match.

It can be very exciting, but sadly, this was when the trouble occurred.

With the shootout tied at 1-1, Buchanan’s Daisy Torres, who is Latina, stepped up to take her kick. This is where folks on the Clovis side say someone in the Oak Ridge student section made loud barking noises in an otherwise silent stadium. Her shot went over the crossbar.

Then Buchanan’s Ciara Wilson, a Black player, attempted her kick. As she readied, Clovis officials say someone in the stands made grunts imitating a gorilla. A Sacramento Bee review of the video confirmed the sound. Wilson was able to make her shot anyway, then pointed to the Oak Ridge student section as the source of the noise.

Oak Ridge wound up winning 4-2 on penalty kicks. The Buchanan coach was, understandably, upset afterward.

“When a quiet stadium is suddenly filled with gorilla noises made toward an African-American student, I don’t know that you get any more blatantly racist,” Gillette said in a phone call with The Sacramento Bee. “It changed the atmosphere of everything. My players after that moment were visibly emotional. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

Slurs directed at Latinos

Sanger’s boy’s team, meanwhile, endured put-downs directed at Latino players during a quarterfinal match last Tuesday against De La Salle High, a power in the East Bay city of Concord.

As related by Sanger parent Chris Martin to ABC 30, some De La Salle fans began referring to Sanger players as “Edgar” and “Juan” and yelling “Do you need a burrito?”

This game, too, was close, with Sanger on the losing end of the 4-3 match. Afterward, a De La Salle fan allegedly told Martin and other Sanger parents to learn English.

Automatic forfeit

It goes without saying that there is no place for such ignorance in today’s America, but obviously, racial prejudice continues to exist. So, the California Interscholastic Federation — the governing body for high school sports — needs to send a strong message that such heckling won’t be tolerated.

The CIF needs to go beyond the usual rhetoric that a full investigation will be done. In the case of these games, the “wins” by Oak Ridge and De La Salle should be forfeited. Sanger and Buchanan should be crowned winners, even as playoffs are finished.

Going forward, the CIF must adopt a rule that says this: Any instance of racial heckling should result in the loss of future home playoff games of the offending school. That would cause schools to lose badly needed revenues to fund other sports.

And any fan guilty of yelling racial taunts? Schools should ban them from games for life.

Here is hoping the Buchanan and Sanger athletes can rise above these shameful incidents and learn the greater lessons of sports: play with honor, do your best, respect your opponent. Then one is a winner in life.

This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 12:30 PM.