Passion and football are one and the same in Ecuador, yet the Ecuador-Uruguay match tainted a national pastime with racial violence. Ecuador failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The loss opened a debate about the team’s technical deficiencies and its future direction, but the FEF (Ecuadorian Football Federation) has paid little attention to the necessary policies, enforcement, and sanctions to eliminate discrimination from the culture of the game.
Ecuador’s World Cup History
The 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup marked Ecuador’s first participation on this international stage. It was a historic event, the media and public glorifying the team players and coach as national heroes. And history was to be replicated the next World Cup, when Ecuador put on a thrilling performance before the crowd in Germany and slid into the second round.
Ecuador-Uruguay Match in Quito
The media described the Ecuador-Uruguay match as disappointing. Ecuador had all the advantage. It was playing at home, in a stadium packed with its fans, at Quito’s near 3,000 meters altitude. Only two other teams in South America are used to high altitude: Colombia and Bolivia.
In the first half, two great opportunities for Ecuador were lost to nerves. In the second half, Ecuador scored, but minutes later Uruguay usurped that advantage by striking quickly and making a goal of its own. The game was decided late in the second half when Ecuador’s goalkeeper committed a foul to stop another Uruguayan attack. The referee served up a penalty shot and Uruguay charged ahead on the scoreboard with another goal.
Loss imminent and chances for South Africa qualification sinking quickly, fans became angry and began throwing beer bottles at the players’ families seated below. They shouted racial slurs at both players and their families. Ecuador’s national football team has a majority of Afro-Ecuadorian players (as it did during the last World Cup).
FIFA’s Disciplinary Code
In reaction to outbursts of racial violence in European football, FIFA has been working to improve race relations by forcing all clubs and national football associations to integrate anti-racism regulations into their national codes. Saturday’s outbreak, however, was proof of how much education and enforcement is still lacking.
Article 58 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code states that : “Anyone who offends the dignity of a person or group of persons through contemptuous, discriminatory or denigratory words or actions concerning race, colour, language, religion or origin shall be suspended for at least five matches.”
The article applies to any perpetrator—player, spectator, club, association, or official—and is enforced through fines, game suspensions, and stadium bans.
Team Captain Iván Hurtado
Racism in Ecuadorian football is culturally accepted. The idiom of discrimination is rarely questioned and was flagrantly on display during Saturday’s game. In the days that followed, the burden of coping with Saturday's incident fell to the team members, who spoke out against the violence and injustice. The team’s captain, Iván Hurtado, stated, “I ask only that we be respected. We don’t play on the national team for money […] We do it out of love for our country.”
Sandra Gross - Having lived in Ecuador for over 10 years, Sandra is familiar with change, charm, and contrast. From Pacific coastlines to the Amazon ...
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