USL Championship side Tulsa Roughnecks terminated the contract of midfielder Fabian Bastidas on Sunday after he directed racial slurs at Atiba Harris of the OKC Energy.
Harris brought the incident to the attention of the clubs and the league after Saturday’s game.
Tonight in our @USLChampionship game; a player from @RoughnecksFC called me the N-word not once but twice on the field to try to insult me. I told the ref but the game cont’d 🤷🏾♂️…We really need to put a stop to this nonsense @EnergyFC. Love over hate
— Atiba Harris (@AtibaHarris) April 28, 2019
The Roughnecks acted swiftly on the actions of their player, and by Sunday night, Bastidas was no longer on the club’s roster.
In an official club statement from Roughnecks president Barry Williams, the team announced the termination of Bastidas’ contract.
“The Tulsa Roughnecks announced today the termination of Fabian Bastidas’ contract with the club following his use of foul and abusive language during last night’s match with OKC Energy FC,” Williams’ statement said. “The player’s actions are a violation of the league’s zero-tolerance policy, and do not represent the beliefs and values of our club – nor the community we represent. As an organization, we sincerely apologize to Atiba Harris and OKC Energy FC, and will do what is necessary to prevent this type of behavior in the future.”
Tulsa head coach Michael Nsien, who is African-American, posted a statement of his own on his personal Twitter account.
— Michael Nsien (@michaelnsien) April 29, 2019
After he was released, Bastidas posted on his Instagram page to try and tell his side of the incident. (NSFW).
Saturday’s incident is the latest in an unfortunate string of racially-charged incidents taking place on soccer fields across the globe.
Tulsa’s termination of Bastidas’ contract is one of the swiftest actions we’ve seen to one of these incidents.
Kudos to the Tulsa Roughnecks for this decision. It is the best and only adequate response to the situation.
Maybe black people should stop saying that word too.