In an under 17 soccer game a boy was sent off for calling an opponent a Terorist. Then he got a six week suspension. Is calling someone a terrorist similar to calling someone a f- word or n- word? Is it that unforgivable? Or is just like calling someone a mewling quim?
Were there rules written down before this?
Moderating:
I’m not really seeing a debate here. Let’s move this to IMHO.
Was his opponent an Arab, Muslim, something of that sort?
Yeah…context matters a lot here I think.
I think it is the use of the word itself that is in question.
If the game was in the USA or UK and the subject of this epithet was Muslim, then hell yeah, it’s a horrible racial slur and needs to be punished very severely, IMHO.
Unknown about the other boy. So is it only a slur when the other boy is Arabic or Muslim?
Too many factions out there-I think the use of the word itself should be the actual issue.
Two black people may use the n-word with each other and few would be fussed about it.
If a white guy says it to a black guy then the math changes a lot.
Maybe? If I were to call my niece a little monkey nobody would bat an eye. If I were to refer to the black kid she was playing with at the playground a monkey that might be construed in a negative manner. If the kid on the soccer field Syrian, Palestinian, or from Yemen then I’m likely to think the terrorist label was a bit racist. Context kind of matters here.
Does the league have rules against namecalling, perhaps as an anti-bullying technique? Maybe calling the opponent a “mewling quim” is also out of bounds. – having just looked that up, it looks like a pretty drastically sexist insult, and IMO ought to be also out of bounds.
Where did this happen? Had the player been warned and or punished before about bad behavior? Who is the governing body of the league? Do they have a written rulebook for when a player is to be suspended? Do you have a link to a story about the incident?
There is only one set of rules-If done during a game, especially by a participant, no one gets special privileges.
Me too. And I’d bet that it was that era’s equivalent of the other f- word.
Do other sports leagues have rules about specific words being used?
Soccer doesn’t have rules about specific words used either, but it has a general rule: don’t insult the ref or an opposing player. It’s a bit like the “don’t be a jerk” rule here at the SDMB. And calling someone a terrorist is insulting and being a jerk, especially if the victim was targeted for their ethnicity, which we don’t know because you missed to provide a link or any context.
Kids soccer game?
You bet there’s rules about name calling, if it’s school or league based.
They loves the rules in those things.
I say it’s a good thing. It teaches good behavior in life skills that will be needed for their whole life.
I find there’s never a good reason to name call. We’ve all done it. I’ve never had a good experience after I’ve done it.
If the rule is “Don’t insult other players” then using “terrorist” or “monkey” is very context dependent. It’s not just a list of words, and never can be. The ethnicity of the players is very important to establish context.
IMHO, this is all that needs to be considered, no context needed. With the connotations that “terrorist” carries, ethnicity doesn’t much matter. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist. The UnaBomber was a terrorist.