San Diego Loyal Manager Explains Stand Against Homophobic Abuse
Former USA international footballer Landon Donovan has explained his decision to remove his San Diego Loyal team from the pitch in response to alleged homophobic slur aimed at one of his side’s players.
The USL Championship team – of which Donovan is now the manager – forfeited their match with Phoenix Rising after walking off the pitch at the start of the second half when midfielder Collin Martin, who is gay, alleged he had received homophobic abuse. Martin was sent off during the incident.
San Diego Loyal were leading 3-1 against Phoenix Rising FC at the time of the incident.
It comes a week after San Diego Loyal’s Elijah Martin was racially abused by a player from the LA Galaxy’s second team.
In an interview after the game Donovan spoke of his regret that he and his team didn’t react to the racial abuse until after the game.
He said: “On our signboards, we made a statement saying ‘I will act. I will speak’… because last week our one regret was that we should have done something in the moment, when Elijah was racially abused.”
In a statement Phoenix said their player denies using a homophobic slur.
