BOISE - A local youth soccer team is receiving a tremendous amount of support both nationally and internationally after a racist letter to the team's coach went viral.
"I really felt bad for my families and my kids and trying to figure out how we were going to approach it," says Juniors Futbol coach Jeromy Tarkon.
"The letter that was received by coach Jeromy went very viral very quickly, it was all over Facebook and social media and picked up by several news outlets," says Craig Warner, the Executive Director for Idaho's Youth Soccer Association.
The letter even captured the attention of former soccer pro Kyle Martino who tweeted saying he wants to meet coach Tarkon and organize a charity game.
"He tweeted something out on his Twitter feed and by the time I landed from my connection in Salt Lake City there were 60 retweets I think, and then by the time I landed in Orlando we were over 100," says Warner.
"I think it’s been assuring to know that we have so much support, that so many people in the community stand behind our kids," says Tarkon.
Tarkon adds that while all the support, both local and nationwide, is humbling and reassuring, it's now time to actually do something about racism in the soccer community.
"We need to act, we need to get something on paper, we need to get something in the regulations, that's the first step," says Tarkon.
Warner is in Orlando, Florida, for the U.S. Soccer Annual General Meeting.
There he hopes to meet with key officials to get something in writing and make a change for good.
"We're considering adjusting our sanction of tournaments to require a paragraph in the rules that addresses racism directly. We want to raise awareness of the racism issue and try and go as national with this as we possibly can, and not to be just a single campaign but one that runs through this year next year and years to come, this can’t be a short term, this has to be long term," says Warner.