Mexican footballers donate 1m pesos over celebration

A MEXICAN footballer who sparked outrage when he celebrated a goal by pretending to assassinate a team mate has apologised for his actions and donated a million pesos to an orphanage in one of the country's most violent towns.

Striker Marco Fabian de la Mora made his faux pas after netting for Guadalajara last weekend, holding an imaginary gun to the head of Alberto Medina and then pulling the trigger. Medina played his part by falling to the floor.

But in a country where drugs-related violence has claimed 44,000 lives in recent years, the joke fell flat. De la Mora and Medina were both fined 50,000 pesos, but were so contrite that they elected to pay double.

Their  team mates obviously felt culpable and decided to make a contribution as well. In total the players raised 1 million pesos which De la Mora presented to the orphanage in the town of Ciudad Juarez, on the drugs route into the US.

"I greatly regret what happened. When I saw the video I was filled with anger and regret for playing around with something as sacred as the life of a human being... It's good to celebrate in football but never like that." ·