Monkey noises targeted players from historically Black college at NC game, school says
Spectators targeted players from a historically Black college with monkey noises during a women’s soccer match in North Carolina, the school said.
Virginia State University said opposing fans also hurled racial slurs at its athletes as they played an away game Sept. 26 at Guilford College.
“The racism that the girls experienced took the joy out of the game,” Diana Darby, the mother of a VSU player, told WRIC. “It was disheartening and gut wrenching.”
But Guilford College in an Oct. 3 statement said it conducted an investigation, which found that fans engaged in heckling but “did not discover any evidence that racist remarks were directed by Guilford fans toward VSU players.”.
“However, the fact that VSU supporters found the environment to be extremely unwelcoming for their players is of deep concern to the college and resulted in action that has been taken,” Guilford College wrote.
More about the soccer game
The teams said fans made the outbursts during a match at Guilford College in Greensboro. Kyle Farmbry, president of the school, shared a written statement the following day.
“Loud outbursts from a group of spectators included profanity and derogatory remarks toward the Virginia State team,” Farmbry wrote Sept. 27. “It was in very poor taste and was very poor sportsmanship by anyone’s definition.”
He added that the fans’ behavior was “unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” The school said it would conduct an investigation and urged those with information to come forward.
Then, about a week later, Virginia State University on Oct. 3 released a statement acknowledging apologies that Guilford College directed at its administrators. But the Virginia school also said its athletes “deserve a personal apology.”
“Racist and abusive language has no place in college sports,” wrote Makola M. Abdullah, president of the school roughly 25 miles south of Richmond. “Our student-athletes work very hard to represent our university, and we must work together to ensure everyone can enjoy a safe and inclusive environment.”
In its latest statement, Guilford College said it conducted interviews and reviewed audio and video from the game. The college determined 14 people were responsible for the heckling, and shared its findings with VSU, according to officials.
“Three students were brought up on student conduct disciplinary action for heckling and one student was held out of an athletic contest for violation of the college’s athletic code of conduct,” officials wrote.
On the VSU soccer team, 18 of the 19 players are Black. Players’ moods appeared to change so much during the match that some of their opponents started apologizing to them, Peggy Davis, associate vice president for athletics, told WRIC.
“It is 2023. It’s a new era,” Caitlyn Richey, a center back on the soccer team, told the TV station. “You would think that everybody just wanted to come and just enjoy the game that we all love to play and watch, but it just takes you back.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2023 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Monkey noises targeted players from historically Black college at NC game, school says."
