Effort made to keep things civil at Earthquakes, Galaxy soccer match at Stanford

Byby Cornell Barnard KGO logo
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Effort made to keep fans civil at MLS soccer match at Stanford
There was a campaign to keep things civil for a soccer match at Stanford Stadium Saturday that was overshadowed by hateful behavior involving fans last year.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- There was a campaign to keep things civil for a soccer match at Stanford Stadium Saturday that was overshadowed by hateful behavior involving fans last year.

The Cali Clasico game between the San Jose Earthquakes and the L.A. Galaxy was expected to draw about 50,000 people.

Officials hoped to curb disrespectful behavior after an offensive and homophobic chant in Spanish by fans caused controversy during last year's game.

"One of the things that you do run into a lot is that people don't actually know what they're saying is offensive. So, that one suggestion that hey, this is not okay usually 99-percent of the time that will get people to stop," Earthquakes COO Jared Shawlee said.

A short fireworks show was planned for after the game.