A veto sanctioned by the Mexican soccer federation (FMF), sponsored by Chivas, against the country´s biggest selling sports daily Récord cast a long shadow over the weekend action and garnered the Mexican game negative headlines all over the world.

Readers of the New York Times, BBC, Washington Post and a host of other major international, English-language publications covered a local dispute between the owners of Chivas and the newspaper that became international news because of the veto.

“It is important to indicate that Club Deportivo Guadalajara has been the victim of repeated lies published by this daily, generating a campaign of hate and abuse that has included death threats,” justified Chivas in a statement on the FMF´s website.

Accusing the newspaper of stirring up public opinion so much as to incite fans to death threats cedes to Récord more influence than it actually has.

Hardcore Chivas fans form their own opinions about the team and the fact remains that vast swathes of them are not happy with the way their club, traditionally the people´s club of Mexico, is run. That can be seen week in, week out with the poor attendances at the Estadio Omnilife

That some fans go beyond what can be considered a reasonable protest cannot be blamed on one newspaper and is a matter not for a veto, but for the police.

Just over two weeks ago, Atlas fans could clearly be heard shouting deaths threats at the club president as he was being interviewed outside the 3 de Marzo stadium.

Nobody blamed the media, just the group of idiots doing the abhorrent shouting.

Set up to follow along the lines of Spain´s Marca, the tabloid-esque Récord seeks to be provocative and regularly pokes fun at figures in the game.

Chivas´ owners Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes have provided many headlines, partly due to off-the-cuff statements they have come out with that have headline-writers licking their lips.

One recent example was when Vergara said he had handed coach Fernando Quirarte a Ferrari and had been handed back a VW Beetle, after Chivas´ poor start to the season resulted in the coach resigning.

One particular issue brought what was already a difficult relationship between Récord and Chivas to a head.

The newspaper published an article on Jan. 23 alleging that Fuentes was the person inside Chivas who had stopped the club splashing out on big name players and coaches, something many fans of the team would like to see in order to compliment the young, local talent coming through the youth system.

According to Fuentes, she was bombarded with negative comments on Twitter, something she admitted affected her and she said publically she felt there was an element of sexism in the criticism of her.

“There is hate towards me,” she told a conference recently. “They can´t stand that women produce results.”

But getting trying to get all the clubs to ban one newspaper?

“This is dangerous,” Alejandro Gomez sports director of Grupo Editorial Notimusa, which publishes Record, is quoted as saying in The Associated Press. “Today it was us, but tomorrow any club that is unhappy with coverage of its team can ask for the same thing and the rest will have to go along. It's a shame because Mexican football needs to improve and polish its image instead of taking measures like this."

It also feeds into the negative stereotype of the Mexican game being run as a “pact between gentlemen” and the image of Mexico as a whole of not necessarily having the press freedoms enjoyed in other parts of the world.

The veto has been further undermined by a number of clubs simply ignoring it.

Latin America´s biggest university, UNAM in Mexico City, is known for its liberalism. One course of consternation that runs through the veins of the university is the way the 1968 massacre of students at Tlatelolco was swept under the carpet and not reported properly to Mexicans in the days leading up to the Olympics Games of the year.

It would be somewhat idiosyncratic for the university´s team Pumas to back a veto of what is a popular, mainstream newspaper.

The other university teams, Tigres UANL and Estudiantes Tecos, have also decided not to follow the veto, for similar reasons. The other club to have done the same is Toluca.

Negotiations between the clubs and Récord remain ongoing, sources have told Soccer365.com, as does this embarrassing story for the Mexican game.

Results this weekend:

On the field, Chivas´ poor form continues. The team tied 0-0 against San Luis on Saturday, meaning it has two points from seven games, and has scored just two goals.

At the top, Tigres UANL, Morelia and Santos Laguna are all on 14 points.

Estudiantes Tecos got a vital 2-1 against Atlante, keeping the relegation battle alive.

Cruz Azul 1-1 Pumas
Queretaro 0-2 Club Tijuana
Chivas 0-0 San Luis
Santos Laguna 1-1 Monterrey
Tigres 0-0 Atlas
Toluca 3-1 Jaguares
Puebla 1-2 Morelia
America 1-0 Pachuca