Mexican citizen Rubens Sambueza will now be considered a ‘foreigner’
By: Jonny Rico
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Discrimination in Mexican soccer has been a very heated topic, especially in the U.S. The ‘Puto’ chant during the away team’s goal-kick has been deemed homophobic by FIFA and a large number of the population. My own column Leave Puto Alone was the target of heavy criticism. But real discrimination in Mexican soccer has just begun with the new 10/8 rule approved earlier this week.
The Mexican soccer powers that be have grown concern at the number of players playing in LIGA MX which are not born in the country. The fear is that one day the Mexican National Team will suffer because not enough young Mexican players are getting an opportunity to play in the First division due to foreign players taking up the spots.
In comes to the 10/8 rule to try and eradicate this issue. The rule will limit teams to 10 players not born in Mexico. Making the gameday rosters a maximum of 10 ‘foregin’ players and a minimum of eight Mexican born players.
NEW RULE IS DISCRIMINATORY
Leagues all around the world have caps on how many foreign players each team can have. Before the rule change LIGA MX had a five foreigners per team limit. Rules limiting the number of foreign players each team can have is fine.
The discrimination issue come in when dealing with naturalized citizens. The concerns of the Mexican soccer officials are that too many foreign players are getting Mexican citizenship and thus freeing up a spot in their teams for another foreigner.
The 10/8 rule will now consider all players not born Mexican citizens as foreigners, even the naturalized Mexican citizens and even Mexican-American players who have the birthright to Mexican citizenship through one or more of their parents. The rule states that any Mexican-American player who registers with the league after age 19 will be considered ‘foreigner’.
Despite the concerns for the Mexican National Team, the nationalistic worries of Mexican soccer officials are not enough reason to make up rules which discriminate against fellow Mexican citizens.
Once a person has been granted citizenship by a government that peros should be able to enjoy any and all rights that the rest of the citizens enjoy. An employer like Liga MX should not be allowed to differentiate between one type of citizen and another, it should not be able to put hiring restrictions to one group of citizens.
NEW RULES DOESN’T SOLVE THE FOREIGNER PROBLEM
Before the 10/8 rule teams were only allowed five foreign players in the roster. That number has now doubled. In the upcoming 2016 Apertura season there could be a match which features 20 foreign players and only two Mexican players.
The new rule discriminates against fellow Mexican citizens without solving the original nationalistic concern.
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