UNITED STATES international soccer star Alejandro Bedoya took to a pitch-side microphone at an MLS game to call on US Congress to “end gun violence”.
The Philadelphia Union captain shouted his powerful message into the mic after scoring in his team’s 5-1 victory over DC United.
The plea came after a weekend in which 29 people were killed in two separate mass shootings that took place in Texas and Ohio.
"Congress, do something now. End gun violence," Bedoya said in the microphone.
Philadelphia Union soccer player Alejandro Bedoya scores a goal in tonight's game against D.C. United, runs over to a field microphone and shouts, "Congress, do something now. End gun violence."
Via FS1 pic.twitter.com/7WH4PA08cs— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 5, 2019
Bedoya played 13 times for Glasgow Rangers during the 2011-12 campaign, scoring once for the Scottish club before moving to Helsingborgs in Sweden.
Speaking in a post-match interview, Bedoya reiterated his stance that “something has got to be done” about the issue of gun control in the US.
"To see that happen again, it's absurd, I am not going to sit idly and watch this stuff and not say something," he said.
"Before I'm an athlete and a soccer player, I am a human being, first. I have got kids - I can't be the only one feeling the same way.
"Something has got to be done, it has got to the point where we have become numb to it, that is a big problem."
Bedoya also took to Twitter to urge those in power to "do something":
Seeing more thoughts and prayers bullshit.
Words without actions are just worthless. America, it seems, is becoming a dystopian society.
Do something!!! Enough!!!— Alejandro Bedoya (@AleBedoya17) August 4, 2019
Bedoya grew up in Florida near Parkland and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where, in 2018, 17 students were killed in a mass shooting.
According to statistics compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 251 mass shootings in the US so far this year.
Mass shootings are categorised as incidents in which four or more people are shot or killed.
