Soccer coach insults journalist from “La Tercera”

(IPYS/IFEX) – On Friday 26 October 2001, during the customary press conference with the Colo Colo soccer club, club coach Roberto Hernández insulted and threatened journalist Rodrigo Labrín of the daily “La Tercera”. According to several media accounts, Hernández insulted and threatened Labrín without provocation. All this happened moments before the routine meeting between the […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – On Friday 26 October 2001, during the customary press conference with the Colo Colo soccer club, club coach Roberto Hernández insulted and threatened journalist Rodrigo Labrín of the daily “La Tercera”.

According to several media accounts, Hernández insulted and threatened Labrín without provocation. All this happened moments before the routine meeting between the soccer team and reporters that takes place before every national soccer league match.

According to the daily “La Cuarta”, before the press conference began, Hernández asked all journalists present in the press room at Monumental Stadium to turn off their recorders and cameras. Subsequently, visibly hysterical, the coach began to swear and hurl insults at Labrín.

Although Labrín tried to speak with the coach, Hernández got up from his chair and threatened to hit the reporter, who at this time chose to leave the room. As a sign of support for Labrín, journalists from the dailies “El Mercurio”, “Las Últimas Noticias”, “La Cuarta”, and radio stations Cooperativa and Agricultura also left the room.

In statements to the radio station Cooperativa, Labrín said that Hernández’s reaction was “strange, because outside of our differences, which stem from when he was the coach at the U [the University of Chile], I was never rude to him. No one has ever insulted me in that way. It bothers me because in the exercise of this profession, many errors in journalistic conduct are committed, but are never ill-intentioned.”

The journalist added that at one point he thought the incident could have had more serious repercussions: “All of a sudden he stopped and threatened to hit me, stating that if I did not leave immediately that’s how he would deal with it…I ‘m not into that. I am very sorry that this happened and I am grateful to my colleagues that left because above and beyond what I suffered, he insulted the journalistic profession.”

Hernández had already had disagreements with Labrín when he managed the University of Chile (U) team two years ago. At that time, the coach was annoyed over an article written by the journalist. It appears that similarly to when he headed the U’s team, Hernández is angry about Labrín’s coverage of Colo Colo’s operation and his coaching abilities.

The incident occurred at a time when the executives of the most popular soccer club in Chile are trying to establish good relations with the media because of their current financial crisis. The economic situation is the gravest that the club has suffered in years.

The daily “La Tercera”‘s management signed a letter in support of Labrín. In its Saturday 27 October edition, the newspaper stated that “Roberto Hernández’s violent reaction did not sit well with Colo Colo, especially because of the policies implemented by club president Peter Dragicevic. So much so that club officials called to explain, pointing out that the coach’s unbalanced reaction was due to a ‘personal problem’ with Rodrigo Labrín. This, however, is not true: the journalist’s work is in line with practices and opinions of the daily ‘La Tercera’, whose management completely backs his professional work. If Colo Colo allows violent reactions like Hernandez’s, it will be difficult to impose proper behaviour upon its players.”

Labrín graduated from the U’s Journalism School and has worked as a sports reporter since that time. Besides his work at “La Tercera”, he previously worked for many years at the daily “La Nacion”‘s supplement, Triunfo.

Recommended Action

Rodrigo Labrín
Periodista Deportes diario “La Tercera”
E-mail: latercera@copesa.cl
Fax: +56 2 550 7999

Send appeals to authorities:
– condemning Hernández’s attitude
– asking them to take all necessary measures to ensure that this does not occur again

Appeals To

Roberto Hernández
Entrenador de Colo Colo
Tel-fax: +56 2 698 0806
Internet: www.colocolo.cl (go to the link – Contáctenos

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.