An American university has had to issue an apology following an explicit chant from students during a football match.
The University of Oregon has said sorry for the 'disgraceful chant', which you can see for yourself below:
During a match against The University of Oregon's 'Ducks' against Brigham Young University's 'Cougars', who hail from Utah, a chant began to a sound out containing particularly explicit language.
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The chants first broke out following the Ducks' scoring their first touchdown at the game on Saturday (17 September).
After the Ducks beat BYU 41-20, further chants erupted at the sold-out crowd of nearly 55,000 people at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon where students would cheer: "F*** the mormons."
Hours after the game had ended, Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox denounced the chant as 'religious bigotry', tweeting: "Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon," responding to a viral video that surfaced of the chanting crowd.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown also issued a statement on the matter.
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She posted to Twitter: "In Oregon, we strive to be a welcoming, inclusive state to all, regardless of race, religion, gender, or background.
"Our state and nation have an ugly history of discrimination and bigotry. The chant at yesterday's Oregon-BYU game was unacceptable. We must do better."
The university’s interim president Patrick Phillips also released a statement about the explicit chants in which he condemned the intolerance of 'a small group of fans'.
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Phillips concluded: "I condemn the behaviour of these fans on Saturday. It angers me. It disgusts me."
Also taking to Twitter, the official account for the University of Oregon posted a thread apologising for the incident.
It read: "The University of Oregon sincerely apologises for an offensive and disgraceful chant coming from the student section during yesterday’s game against Brigham Young University."
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The statement continued: "These types of actions go against everything the university stands for, and it goes against the spirit of competition.
"We can and will do better as a campus community that has no place for hate, bias or bigotry."
The Oregon Pit Crew, Oregon's student section, likewise came out to support the students at BYU tweeting: "To all @BYUfootball fans in attendance at todays game we would like to apologise for the actions of the students in attendance.
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"We do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards one’s religion and are ashamed of those who participated."
According to a news outlet within Brigham Young University, BYU 'has over 30,000 students with the majority belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'.
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Rhiannon Ingle