Santa Ana Pueblo responded to youth soccer game plagued by racial tensions

Thursday, March 22, 2018  

Police officers from the Pueblo of Santa Ana responded to a girl's soccer game in New Mexico after a brawl broke out among players and parents, The Associated Press reports.

The game between Alameda 99 and Rio Galaxy took place on Saturday at a soccer complex on tribal land. Players from Alameda said they were taunted with racial slurs based on their Hispanic origin.

“All throughout the game, the parents were calling the players things like ‘dirty Mexicans’ and other stuff I can’t even repeat,” Alameda coach Ana Garcia told the AP.

The coach of Rio, on the other hand, said his players were subjected to anti-white epithets, the AP reported.

A fight eventually broke out among some players, and some parents rushed on the field, according to video from the incident.

A 15-year-old player from Alameda said she was choked by a parent on the field, the AP reported. But the tribe's chief of police, Bonadelle Candelaria, wouldn't confirm whether an investigation was underway.

The two teams were suspended for a game by the Duke City Soccer League, which is conducting its own investigation.

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