District condemns “inappropriate comments” made by Yorba Linda spectator during boys’ football game – Orange County Register

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Yorba Linda High School and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District condemned racist comments made by one of its spectators during a boys’ soccer game against Magnolia’s visit and reinforced their policies of spirit sportsman for sporting events.

In a statement Thursday, the district said its standards were not met when one of its spectators made “inappropriate comments” during the game against the Anaheim School on December 17.

The comments “Go back to the hood” and “Go fight a friend of yours” were shouted by a male spectator in the second half of the match and picked up on the video broadcast of the match by the network of the National Federation of High School Associations. State. .

“The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District was recently made aware of inappropriate comments made by a spectator at Yorba Linda High School,” the district said.

“The standard of sportsmanship was not met by the Yorba Linda High School spectator and unequivocally the district will not tolerate such feelings,” the district added. “Anyone who violates our expectations of spectators will be asked to leave school district property by an administrator. ”

The district, spokeswoman Alyssa Griffiths said, took notice of the comments over the weekend. District and school officials then collaborated on an email to his spectators for men’s football. The statement was shared by Yorba Linda principal Richard Dinh ahead of the school boys’ football game on Monday against visiting Marina.

“We have received several complaints regarding the conduct of our spectators,” the email from Dinh read. “We recognize that there may have been wrongdoing on both sides of the aisle. We understand that fans can be frustrated; however, continuous heckling, insulting and calling out to anyone is unacceptable behavior.

“Moreover, it is never acceptable for supporters in the stands to shout at coaches or players from our own team or from the opposing team in a negative way.”

The email also referred to Yorba Linda’s conference code of conduct, which states that spectators and participants in sporting events should “refrain from any conduct that could degrade, bait, intimidate or discredit their opponents.” , officials or high school athletes. ”

Magnolia boys’ soccer coach Jose Espinoza in his first season at the school said on Thursday he was not happy with the district’s statement. He said the district had not specifically acknowledged the “hate speech” and that he and his team had not received a formal apology. He added that he believed the viewer should be suspended.

“We have been asked to accept racism for too long,” he said. “We never did anything to justify an attack like this.”

The comments came moments after Yorba goalkeeper Linda and a Magnolia player collided during a sprint for the ball. With the score tied 1-1, play resumed with a free kick from Magnolia but the game ended quickly as Espinoza received his second yellow card resulting in his sending off in the 71st minute.

As Magnolia did not have an assistant coach, Yorba Linda won by forfeit, Espinoza said.

The referee’s report on the incident stated that Espinoza received his first yellow card because one of his players had an earring, which is a violation of the rules, and the second for “continued public dissent.” and abusive ”.

Espinoza has coached at club level and in the New York Red Bulls youth program.

He said one of his players will be suspended for a match for using bad language during the match.