In the interest of accuracy and clarity the full statement from Sydney Leroux regarding her allegations of racism is below. It is unedited.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
My tweet from this morning wasn't in response to anything from yesterday's match at BMO Field. In fact, the atmosphere at the stadium was a positive step forward for women's soccer," she said.Unfortunately, the type of abuse I have received in the past and via social media for my decision to play for the United States is a step backwards. That is what prompted my response in the heat of the moment.
It is sad that people are inclined to write these incredibly negative comments, but I am not going to focus on them moving forward. Racism has no place in our beautiful game and we all need to come together to make sure no players are subjected to this kind of treatment in stadiums or on social media anywhere in the world. That said, the majority of fans have been extremely positive and I appreciate their support.
My comment: Key in that statement are a few things:
1) - It goes without saying that, no matter the opinion of Leroux's decision or character, she does not deserve to be the victim of racial abuse. At all. Ever. There are idiots everywhere, including Canada, and it is imperative that each and everyone of us work to expose the idiots and to ensure that they never poison the atmosphere of national team games.
That said...
2) - "(The Tweet) wasn't in response to anything from yesterday's match at BMO Field."
That's pretty clear. Leroux is not claiming that she heard racist chants at the game in Toronto. Unfortunately, the way she worded the original Tweet made it seem as if she was referring to the Toronto game (it's just bad writing to make reference to an event that happened, while making an allegation of something that happened 18-months ago. You are asking the reader to read your mind).
There are still a great deal of people that are insisting that racist chants occurred during the game.
3) In her statement she does not make reference to "chanting," but rather to things written to her via social media platforms. This is a very important distinction that many fans of Leroux seem to want to ignore.
As stated above, one racist voice is too many, but there is a considerable difference between a crowd chanting something (it involves a coordinated effort and would be clearly audible to all that were around it) and one individual saying something stupid.
To use a local example, it was never fair of Toronto FC fans to label the fans of the Columbus Crew as racists based on the video that surfaced a few years ago that showed one individual in their supporter's section using a racist term. It would have been fair if several people joined in and no one in the crowd stopped them, however. In her Tweet yesterday, Leroux appeared to claim that happened in Toronto (and her follow-ups are unclear as to whether she's claiming it happened in Vancouver).
Words matter and by using the word "chant" Leroux has implied something of which there is no evidence of having happened (in Vancouver, nor in Toronto). Whether she intended it or not, Leroux said that Canadian supporters either wilfully engaged in racist chanting, or were complicit to it.
Both are serious allegations that should not have been dealt with so flippantly.
4) - Nowhere in that statement are the words "I'm sorry." Many, I suspect, will react negatively to the suggestion that she should apologize for anything — she's the victim, after all, they will say. And, when it comes to defending herself against against racist abuse she absolutely should not apologize.
However, that doesn't excuse her making libelous statements against a large group of people — statements that even she now admits are not true. Leroux has more than 90,500 followers on Twitter. A good majority of those followers have not read her clarification, and, based on my Twitter interactions from yesterday, are fully convinced Canadian soccer fans are knuckle dragging racists.
A simple: "I'm sorry if I caused any confusion. I did not want to imply I heard racist chants yesterday. Most fans agree that we need to #stopracism" would have done wonders (yes, that's less than 140 characters) and would have been a message that all fans of the game, whether Canadian or American, would have embraced.
Lastly, and it pains me to have to write this, all of this has NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER HER DECISION TO PLAY FOR THE UNITED STATES, NOR HER GOAL CELEBRATION SUNDAY.
It is entirely based on her actions yesterday morning, when she made a Tweet (in her own words) in the heat of the moment that made a very serious allegation of racism in Canadian stadiums.
If you are reading this and are still convinced that I, and all that disagree with how she handled herself yesterday, are just "haters" then you are viewing this entirely through a partisan perspective and there is little point engaging you. Feel free to comment below; you'll be ignored.