One of our regular readers directed us to a new gender and ethnic diversity report on MLS.
I have to say, I was a little surprised at the report. Among head coaches, it mentions Fernando Clavijo as the only person of color in the league - then it adds that the recent hire of Ruud Gullit doubles that. Excuse me, but why was Juan Carlos Osorio overlooked - or counted as white? He's Colombian-born.
On the other hand, I'm glad someone is keeping tabs on these kind of issues. Frankly, there are so many soccer-knowledgeable females in the U.S. today, that I'm surprised that more aren't involved in the league. It could be, like Don Garber posits, a temporary blip because it's a relatively small organization. I'm still glad someone is tracking it, though, because it's easy for institutions to slip into a good ol' boy network without even realizing it sometimes.
8 comments:
It's "Colombian" and yea, probably an oversight on their report.
Well, most Colombians I know are white. They would object to being called a person of color. As they have no color. Being from Colombia and having parents from Spain could easily qualify as caucasian. I personnally do not know the difference, but ask most colombians is they are white or persons of color and I would venture a guess that they would say white.
I have yet to hear anybody explain the dude-fest, that is MLS, better than Luis Arroyave did last week.
"Other than the game, I also might hit the MLS parties. And if they're anything like the MLS parties I've been to in the past, I can expected three things from the festivities...
"Great food.
"Free drinks.
"All dudes.
Don't get me wrong, the league goes all out for these parties, but there are barely any females there. It's pretty much 95 percent guys. MLS parties are kind of like the Playboy mansion -- only without the girls."
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/soccer_redcard/2007/11/off-to-dc-do-no.htm
I fail to see Osorio as any more white than Clavijo, even if it is self-identifying on both their parts.
"White is a color, too!"
-David Duke
Quick note in the NYT about a couple USWNT players under a hail of rocks outside the Olympic stadium in Rome, also talking about Hope Solo, and their new coach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/sports/soccer/20soccer.html?ref=soccer
Can we stop drooling over anti-American diversification?
Hire people who can do the job and do it well vice focusing on color.
If black people can't do it then so be it; if white people can't do it then so be it.
We won't make larger in-roads to marginalizing racism until you journalists stop focusing on race.
Yeah, it's obviously the journalists fault that so few Hispanics are coaching and that few women are involved in the league.
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