Soccer season is well under way for Charlotte Catholic High School boys varsity team. However, when the Cougars were warming up in their opponent’s stadium at Forestview High School in Gastonia for a N.C. 3A playoff Saturday, Nov. 4, they heard something over the public intercom speaker that would stick with them through the rest of their game.

A portion of a Hitler propaganda speech that lasted 90-seconds was played, according to Steve Carpenter, assistant principal of Charlotte Catholic High School.

Carpenter, who did not attend the game, said the players, coaches and parents were shocked at what they had heard. He said after investigation, it was determined by officials that the speech was one dictated by Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

“It was a speech by him in German,” Carpenter said. “But the tone of it was obviously a Nazi type speech, which is what [Hitler] was famous for. It of course stepped everybody back.”

Charlotte Catholic principal, athletics director and team players were not available for comment.

Carpenter said, according to information he received, one of the Forestview players is a German exchange student. This student taught his teammates the German slogan, ‘On to victory.’ This became the team’s chant and slogan as a motivation for their games.

According to Carpenter, Forestview players wanted a recording of the slogan in German to play over the public intercom during warm-ups. Since ‘On to victory’ was a common expression throughout the Nazi propaganda speeches, they downloaded a Hitler speech that contained that slogan in it, he said.

“They downloaded the speech off the internet that had that phrase in [the speech] in German,” Carpenter said. “Apparently you just knew automatically when you heard [the speech] play that it was a Nazi-era speech.”

According to Carpenter, after the speech was played, Forestview players took the field and continued to chant ‘On to victory’ in German. The German phrase was translated by one of Charlotte Catholic’s German-speaking players.

Carpenter also said there is some allegation that the opposing team made racial slurs towards members of Catholic’s soccer team during and after the game.

Catholic coach Gary Hoilett told The Charlotte Observer, “It was one of the worst things I’ve seen.”

Frances Deschenes, a sophomore in parks, recreation, and tourism played varsity soccer for Charlotte Catholic’s girls team before she graduated in 2005.

Deschenes said this isn’t the first time Catholic has had this sort of encounter in a sports competition. According to Deschenes, a couple of years ago an opposing volleyball team wore shirts that made slurs against Catholics.

“I don’t expect it to go this far. It’s ridiculous, especially since [Catholic’s soccer] coach is Jamaican,” she said. “It’s really just disrespectful.”

She said she was surprised they were allowed to play the speech over the intercom in the first place.

“You would think there was someone there to tell them they can’t play it,” Deschenes said. “At Catholic we had to get our songs approved before they played them over the intercom.”

According to Carpenter, the Forestview principal immediately sent a letter of apology to Charlotte Catholic for their behavior. Carpenter said the school accepted it very quickly.

“This type of thing can happen anywhere. Those kinds of things are not reflective of the school and the community,” Carpenter said. “That’s been [Catholic’s] standpoint all along: a mistake was made and we, as Catholics, forgive each other and move on.”

Carpenter said Hoilett attended Forestview’s soccer game Wednesday night as a sign of forgiveness.

“I think I would’ve been shocked,” said Alice Raad, a freshman in First Year College and a Charlotte Catholic 2006 alumna. “I don’t know what I would think. [Forestview] was not wearing their title right.”

Carpenter said Forestview is investigating the incidents and he thinks there have been consequences for the team.

“I believe the deal was that the [Forestview] assistant coach knew [the players] were going to play the tape,” Carpenter said. “He didn’t stop it and he and the goalie were suspended from their game Wednesday.”

Carpenter also thinks the Forestview team has to participate in a sensitivity training program.

Charlie Ramirez, a freshman in history and a Charlotte Catholic 2006 graduate, believes that Forestview should have taken stronger consequences for their behavior.

“They should’ve forfeited their next game,” he said. “That’s pretty ridiculous what they did, and it’s inexcusable.”

Carpenter said Charlotte Catholic has moved on from the incident.

“I just want to make sure that everybody understands that it was a mistake by a kid and certainly not the school,” he said. “We’ve moved on, we’ve certainly accepted their apology, we know that that’s not what their community’s about. We wish them luck and look forward to playing them in something else.”