Salt Lake City — The Utah Youth Soccer Association, known as UYSA, is working to improve how racism is addressed on the soccer field.
The league reported 25 incidents of racist comments during the season. Commissioner Scott Boyd provided the following statistics to KSL:
Fall 2023
Total matches played: 6,989 league matches
- Questions – 12 in total
- From Parents to Players – 3
- The comments were taken to the tribunal but the tribunal did not follow the process – 2
- Allegations of racist comments made by players – 3
- Racist comments on the field not heard by referee – 1
- Accusing a player/parent/coach of being racist (opposed call) – 2
- Process followed – 1
Spring 2024
Total matches played: 7,509 league matches
- Number of questions: 13
- Racist comments made by players (usually the N-word) – 6
- Teams accuse umpires of racism for calls and comments – 2
- Racist remarks by parents (indefinite suspension) – 1
- Parent to Parent – 1
- Process Followed – 3
Of the 25 total issues, one resulted in a parent being suspended indefinitely.
“We have been aware of a number of incidents over the last few years that appear to have a racial undertone,” Boyd said.
Diego Godoy is the founder of the Utah Rio Football Club and has four children who play soccer in Utah.
He said he and his friends have heard racist remarks both on and off the field.
“The other players called him 'Monkey,'” Godoy said of his son. “I said, 'Why do you call me that?' And they said, 'You're a monkey because you have big ears.'”
Godoy said he felt UYSA was not taking the matter seriously.
“When we start complaining about it, instead of getting answers, we just get more complaints on top of it,” Godoy said. “Like, 'Oh, but we heard this happened.'”
He said his daughter once left the field crying after the opposing team's coach made a derogatory comparison to a movie character.
“The coach was teasing her about the movie 'Coco,' saying, 'Don't worry, we have Coco,'” Godoy said.
Godoy said he was punished by the referee for speaking to his players in Spanish.
“Ninety percent of the players on my team are Hispanic,” he says, “and I speak to the white kids I coach in Spanish because they understand.”
Godoy said he encounters racism so often that the club records all of its matches.
“It's expensive for our club to spend money on these things but a lot of problems started to arise,” he said.
Parent Jennifer Lambert was there because of an incident that was caught on camera.
“Our coach was trying to get the umpire's attention to clarify a call and a player in a particular position got angry and wanted to confirm, but instead of yelling, he was trying to stay calm and get the umpire's attention, and then a player on the opposing team in that position yelled at our coach, 'Shut up and go get some tacos,'” she recalled.
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She said on another occasion the atmosphere became very hostile during a match.
“I don't mind the competition, it's fine,” Lambert said, “but then the parents on the other side started yelling at me to go back to Mexico, and I thought, I didn't understand exactly what I heard.”
Lambert said she and her husband emailed UYSA to report both incidents.
“We were very detailed in the email,” she said.
Lambert said she had not received a response for her comments about Mexico. Although disciplinary action was taken for the incident caught on camera, she said she was disappointed with how the opposing team responded on the field.
“The opposing team's coach wanted to make sure they won, that was a big concern,” she said.
Godoy said he has heard racist comments from other players, parents, coaches and even umpires.
“It's hard to see kids with tears in their eyes, so we want to see change,” he said.
UYSA's response
Boyd said UYSA leadership takes racist incidents very seriously.
“We would like to eliminate every single one of these incidents if possible,” he said.
The association updated its zero tolerance policy against discrimination last season.
Boyd explained the changes in a March presentation, which included a slide titled “The n-word ends with an 'a'.”
The slide read: “UYSA suffered the humiliation of having three players sent off last summer and subsequently suspended for the entirety of Far West Regionals and the Regional President's Cup. NEVER USE IT!”
This slide and others in the updated policy contain specific guidance to umpires on how to respond the moment a complaint is filed.
“Now, if a statement is made, we contact the umpire,” he said. “We let the umpire know that a statement has been made. The umpire will stop the game, send both teams to the other sideline, talk to the sideline that made the complaint, get their information, go back to the other sideline and explain what was going on.”
Boyd said the officials would immediately investigate and speak with both coaches, which would typically result in a verbal warning.
“If the umpire hears it and sees that it's a racist comment made by a player on the field, that player will be ejected in almost every situation,” he said.
The same policy applies to parents, he said.
“If the umpire hears that, he'll eject the parent and he'll write me a report,” Boyd said.
Boyd is confident about the updates but acknowledges that if they don't work he is open to setting up a multicultural committee to investigate racist incidents during matches – a move supported by Godoy.
“We're sick of the emails that are being sent because we know what's going to happen,” he said, who believes incidents of racism within the association are underreported.
Boyd said the most important thing to him is that players' opinions are heard.
“From the beginning, we need to make them understand that it's not their fault, it's other people's fault. They are 100 percent at fault,” Boyd said. “We don't like that kind of behavior, we don't want that, and we don't need people out there who are going to participate in that kind of behavior.”