As has been pointed out in comments here, and if you read carefully, alluded to in Luis' article, it's very likely that Chivas officials knew all along that Jesus Padilla was born in the U.S.
The story of him being born in Mexico, and his family later moving to the States could have been concocted by the club itself to appease the Guadalajara fans who are very rigid about the requirement that players must be born in Mexico. The club could have asked Jesus just to produce a Mexican birth certificate (very easy to get, even if you're from somewhere else) to add a little more validation to the story.
One reason Luis and I were skeptical of Padilla's story was inconsistencies in articles like this one.
That article specifically mentions that the Chivas website says Padilla was born in San Miguel El Alto, Jalisco, but Padilla says it was actually San José de los Reinosos, Jalisco. Why wouldn't his own club get that right?
It's not as if professional sports clubs don't fudge the rules to gain advantages all the time. The LA Dodgers signed Adrian Beltre when he was only 15, which was against league rules. In this case, though, Chivas has done nothing illegal.
Yet if they knew about Padilla's birthplace and tried to deceive Chivas fans about it, that doesn't make the organization look good. Either they're too chicken to tell the truth, or they think nothing of undercutting the traditions of the club by devious means.
Some people will say, "no big deal", but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss possible deception by the club. After all, if it didn't matter, why not just come out and say that Padilla was U.S. born?
chivas...hypocrites?? They've been called worse.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see how the chivas freaks react..
I wish Chivas de G. would just abandon this xenophobic, crytpo-racist policy. But if they're going to proclaim it, they should be forced to live within it even (especially) if it means missing out on promising players.
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