Students who directing racially derogatory chants at female high school soccer players during a recent varsity game in Wisconsin, including references to Donald Trump's vow to clamp down on illegal immigration from Mexico, will be disciplined, according to a school district official.
Elkhorn district administrator Jason Tadlock said Monday school officials who investigated the incident found three elementary school girls who were sitting near Beloit Memorial fans chanted "Trump, build a wall." He said two male high school students yelled "Trump" back and forth four to five times.
Beloit coach Brian Denu told WISC-TV that some Elkhorn students directed racial slurs and Trump chants at Beloit's minority players during last Thursday night's game. Tadlock said there was no evidence any students shouted racial slurs.
Denu said some of the players left the game, saying the taunts may have come from a small number of students, but they made a huge impact.
"I could just see the hurt and pain on their faces and know that this was obviously something that they hadn't seen before," Denu said. "You know, it was from a small pocket of the Elkhorn fans, but those words are things you can't take back."
Denu said he and other coaches consoled players during and after the game.
"Seeing the impact on those kids is something I'll never forget as a coach," he said, adding that this isn't behavior he would expect to see in 2016.
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Tadlock said the school district will "address the behavior of those responsible, but will not release specifics of student disciplinary action taken."
Tadlock said the game officials didn't hear the chants.
Students in Indiana and Iowa have recently been admonished for similar chants at high school games in apparent support of the Republican presidential candidate's campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally.
