The Y word

[SpurMeUp]

It would be interesting to know when yid was first adopted by Spurs fans. Was it around the time of Cable Street battle/riot? Which saw a lot of the east-end Jewish community stand up to fascists. If so that would date it to 1936. I have not idea if that is the case, it would be fascinating to uncover more. I know my grandfather remembered the events in whitchappel all those years ago. Sadly I'm a few years late to ask him.

 

[StephenH]

Surely it’s basics
I’d you say something that someone finds offensive.... it’s offensive by it’s very nature
You don’t have to agree with it or like it, but if the person the comment is aimed at finds it offensive then it is

So who is the word Yid sing by a Spurs fan aimed at?

Good question.

I don't think its 'aimed' at anyone. It a rallying cry like the Haka. Sadly it's now fallen foul of the anxiety around anything with a religious connection.
As it 'offends' I personally don't like or use it. But it's not antisemitic IMHO its probable the exact opposite.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Good question.

I don't think its 'aimed' at anyone. It a rallying cry like the Haka. Sadly it's now fallen foul of the anxiety around anything with a religious connection.
As it 'offends' I personally don't like or use it. But it's not antisemitic IMHO its probable the exact opposite.

It’s use by us is exactly the opposite as you say
But of course some people find it offensive

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

People don't seem to allow for context anymore.

Good question.

I don't think its 'aimed' at anyone. It a rallying cry like the Haka. Sadly it's now fallen foul of the anxiety around anything with a religious connection.
As it 'offends' I personally don't like or use it. But it's not antisemitic IMHO its probable the exact opposite.

It’s use by us is exactly the opposite as you say
But of course some people find it offensive

I think we all agree on the context we use it in, originally a defence mechanism, now a rallying cry, an identity tag of the to Tottenham collective. All positive and in no way racist.

But others can only 'allow for context' if they know that context. I'd guess most people in football would know that context (but I'd still guess not many know the origin of how/why it all started), but the general public and those of the Jewish faith may very well not.

With no knowledge of context, and you were a Jewish family at a tube station and 50 geezers coming up the escalators are shouting 'who let the yids out' , it 100% sounds like a question (aggressively delivered) directed at you, when of course they have probably not even noticed you are Jewish and are just enjoying high jinks on an away day. Regardless, it can be an upsetting/offensive experience for them.

 

[Ex-Pat Jennings]

As a long time lurker, but shy-and-retiring poster, can I just complement the contributors to this excellent thread.

This is exactly what I hope for from a forum: I’ve been informed educated and entertained, and been distracted away from my fears concerning tomorrow’s match!

 

[Grays_1890]

I think we all agree on the context we use it in, originally a defence mechanism, now a rallying cry, an identity tag of the to Tottenham collective. All positive and in no way racist.

But others can only 'allow for context' if they know that context. I'd guess most people in football would know that context (but I'd still guess not mathemselves ny know the origin of how/why it all started), but the general public and those of the Jewish faith may very well not.

With no knowledge of context, and you were a Jewish family at a tube station and 50 geezers coming up the escalators are shouting 'who let the yids out' , it 400% sounds like a question (aggressively delivered) directed at you, when of course they have probably not even noticed you are Jewish and are just enjoying high jinks on an away day. Regardless, it can be an upsetting/offensive experience for them.

I think you are vastly over thinking it though.

If the person using the Y-word is not using it in an offensive way and in many cases are themselves Jewish then although its unfortunate that the person at the tube station is offended that lends itself into normal life where you cant stop people taking offence to many things.

I think the fact that you have had to put together a very specific scenario says it all TBH but it does not take away from the actual point, the Y word used by me as a Jew to say I am a Yid is not offensive, that is not what Jews get offended by, its the terms such as die you effing yid or you yid cnut that they find offensive the same way as they would if they just used the word jew instead of Yid. The reason its up for debate is not truly about Jews being offended by our own use of the word its the belief if makes things worse which is another debate all together.

 

[spurspinter1]

This is poor. If you are not Jewish and have never had that word used to you in an abusive manner then comments like these look awful. Paki is an abbreviation of Pakistanis, and some of my very dear and close friends who aren't Pakistani might use it and I would probably shrug it off but I would still find it unpleasant. That's me. My father who had it hurled at him regularly when he arrived on these shores would clean spark them.

What about if someone called me a yid ie "fudgein yid" because I was wearing a spurs shirt. That is abusive imo and I'm not Jewish (but like the really good Woody Allen films). Just to be clear, it wasn't the word itself but the fact the person had deemed it as an insult.



For context this happened in Liverpool like 8 years ago (cue tedious and totally inevitable derogatory comments about where some people are from...)

 

[milo]

From today's David Ornstein column in the Athletic

Y-word returns in week Premier League sign antisemitism pledge

It took just three minutes for the 2,000 home supporters to mark their long-awaited return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a chant of “Yid Army!

The return of the chant, as reported by Luke Brown, was predictable and yet its use by Tottenham supporters — who claim to have reclaimed the term from its racist usage by opposing fans — is only becoming more contentious. And in light of both the Premier League and Tottenham announcing last week that they have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, the chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council has told The Athletic that this is a significant opportunity for the club to reconsider its supporters’ use of the Y-wor

“In light of the Black Lives Matter movement — which has created a benchmark by which race issues are addressed within sport — and in the light of the adoption of the IHRA definition, you cannot think of a better time for Spurs to be able to turn to their fans and say: ‘We think it is now time to stop using this word’,” said Jonathan Goldstein, who spoke with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy over the club’s decision to adopt the definitio

“I am really delighted that (Tottenham) have adopted the IHRA definition. I have spoken to Daniel about it and I know that he has enthusiastically adopted it. And so I feel that now is the time to go into the next stage

The IHRA definition was adopted by the Premier League as a way to better inform clubs and supporters about behaviour or comments that can be considered antisemitic. However, The Athletic understands Tottenham have no immediate plans to reconsider their existing stance on the word, which means chants like those heard during the north London derby yesterday could be commonplace for some time.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

nothing riled me up more than David Baddiel complaining about Spurs fans singing the Y word whilst being totally silent on gas noises and tonnes of other anti-semitic chants from his own Chelsea mob..

Just read Baddiel's polemic Jews Don't Count. He talks about anti-semitism at Chelsea a great deal, less so about Spurs and the Y word. Both are simply illustrative of his wider point, which this short book repeats a zillion times, that anti-semitism is straightforwardly racism and that it is excused where other forms of racism wouldn't be.

I didn't see any evidence of partisan anti-Spurs bias. Perhaps the publishers went through carefully and edited it all out.

 

[Diamond Lights]

Just read Baddiel's polemic Jews Don't Count. He talks about anti-semitism at Chelsea a great deal, less so about Spurs and the Y word. Both are simply illustrative of his wider point, which this short book repeats a zillion times, that anti-semitism is straightforwardly racism and that it is excused where other forms of racism wouldn't be.

I didn't see any evidence of partisan anti-Spurs bias. Perhaps the publishers went through carefully and edited it all out.

I agree entirely, hence why I no longer use the Y Word at Spurs, and would love for all fans to do the same but unfortunately think that's a harder task.

Regarding Baddiel, think it was more of his public statements completely ignoring Chelsea's anti-semitism.

 

[SpurMeUp]

I think Baddiel's partisanship with a fan group that includes racists, no doubt drove his input into this area. As a jew, hearing your own fans and 'brothers' mimicking the gas chambers of the Nazis, would cause cognitive dissonance! What did he do? Not condemn and openly fight his own, he instead focused on Spurs to push back. Which is in keeping with football rivalry I suppose. The reality is, Chelsea fans racism is modern and explicit. Whereas yid is no longer associated with slander, it is a term like goon, hammer etc; however, its historic legacy is actually related to fighting racism.

Did Baddiel condemn the clear racism of his own? No. He created a discourse around Spurs which was not there beforehand. That was unforgivable imo. By the naughties, almost no one under 30 had any idea about the legacy of the term, but if they were to look it up, most supporters were proud of its anti-racist roots. Personally, I see no problem with it as meanings of words evolve, and I have pride in Spurs supporter unity at fighting racism all those years ago. You can not erase history.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Both are simply illustrative of his wider point, which this short book repeats a zillion times, that anti-semitism is straightforwardly racism and that it is excused where other forms of racism wouldn't be.

The Muslims would probably say the same, women apparently feel persecuted though I usually turn off when they are bleating on and as a white English man I certainly see sn increasing resentment and hostility to people like me that if it were said of black people for example would not be acceptable.

Take home message is Baddiel is a cnut.

 

[Raziel]

I think Baddiel's partisanship with a fan group that includes racists, no doubt drove his input into this area. As a jew, hearing your own fans and 'brothers' mimicking the gas chambers of the Nazis, would cause cognitive dissonance! What did he do? Not condemn and openly fight his own, he instead focused on Spurs to push back. Which is in keeping with football rivalry I suppose. The reality is, Chelsea fans racism is both modern and explicit. Whereas yid is no longer associated with slander it is a term like good, hammer; however, its historic legacy is related to fighting racism. Did Baddiel condemn the clear racism of his own? No. He created a discourse around Spurs which was not even there. By the naughties almost no one under 40 had any idea about the legacy of the term, but if they were to look it up, most supporters were proud of its anti-racist roots. Personally, I see no problem with it as meanings of terms evolve, and I have pride in Spurs supporter unity at fighting racism. You can not erase history.

It's the easy fight, this is often an issue with people going after causes, pick the right fight

- Super easy to go after Spurs and Y word, because they know we aren't being racists, they know non-racist will actually pause and think about it (see this thread)
- Why not go after Chelsea, are we really going to pretend gas chamber noises, nazi salutes and the other flimflam they do isn't outright racism/anti-Semitism?

This was similar to when I was in US and protestors jumped on stage in a Bernie Sanders rally (2016) because they thought he was not inclusive/had been somehow racist in past
- Really? in US politics you would protest at a democrat or Bernie Sanders when you have literal Nazi's/KKK on the other side?

Pick the right fight, Spurs and the Y word isn't it.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

I don't usually post paywall articles, but given all that is going on at the moment, this is going to become a talking point again, and harder to justify as time goes on. (Edit : I had no idea how long this was. I thought I had read the whole thing only to realise as I was copying/pasting that there were reams more I had missed).
From the Athletic :
Spurs fans and the Y-word: What happens next?
Tottenham Hotspur will ask their supporters to assess the appropriateness of their use of the Y-word, in what could be a major step towards the club’s fans ending a decades-long association with the word and its variants, The Athletic understands.

Off the back of a consultation with 23,000 supporters in 2019, followed by focus groups last year, a decision looks to have been made that a discussion is needed about the word, which, although not meant to cause offence when used by Tottenham fans, is described by Jewish charity The Community Security Trust (CST) as an “antisemitic insult”. The club are also set to launch a campaign next year to try and provide fans with more information about the word and its origins, as well as historical context as to why it is so harmful. This will be of particular benefit to some younger fans who, Spurs’ research shows, are less aware of the word’s origins and more likely to sing it. It’s understood that Tottenham want the re-evaluation of the use of the word to be a collaborative process with supporters.

In an official sense, Spurs as a club does not engage with the word — it is not permitted on any merchandise or in club outlets and they do not interact with any social media account with the word in their bio or handle. Players and staff are also asked not to use it. But traditionally, the club has not suggested to its supporters that they should reconsider their use of the word. That looks set to change.

For those unaware, Y*d is a racial slur aimed at the Jewish community — one that was used by the fascist Oswald Mosley and his disciples, and daubed on the walls of London’s East End in the 1930s. The English form of the word was also used in Nazi Germany.

It was also increasingly used in the 1970s by Spurs’ opponents as a form of antisemitic abuse against a club that traditionally had a strong Jewish following. Tottenham fans took on the word as a badge of honour, a way to deflect the racism that went unchecked and show that they were proud of their Jewish roots.

That defence of the use of the word is no longer appropriate for several reasons. For a start, only around five per cent of match-going Spurs fans are Jewish, and so for the vast majority, it is not their word to reclaim. And although many Jewish Tottenham fans are happy for the word to be sung, and some actively promote it as a way of celebrating their religion and culture, there are many who find it offensive — and according to Spurs’ research, an increasing number of fans want to see a reduction of its use. There is also the context of heightened awareness of cultural appropriation and sensitivities to consider. In rugby union for instance, the Exeter Chiefs are under pressure from Native American organisations to change their name.

Stephen Pollard, a Jewish Spurs fan and the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, is one supporter who has been on a journey from advocating Spurs supporters singing the Y-word, which is ubiquitous in Tottenham chants, to seeing it as indefensible. “I was quite dogmatically — as I said two years ago — in favour of allowing people to use the ‘Y-word’,” he says. “I could never understand how something is racist if it is not perceived as being racist by the person saying it, or by the person to whom it is shouted.

“But I came to the view that I was looking at it through tunnel vision. You can’t separate Spurs fans who use it in a friendly and appropriate way from how other football fans use it. Chelsea do brilliant work on this, so this is not a criticism of a club that leads the way in terms of the work they do on antisemitism, but their fans let the club down repeatedly. It becomes too academic a discussion, I think, when people like me say, ‘Yes but we mean it in an entirely inclusive way’. So I think you can’t take the position that I had without ignoring the real world.”

For too long, the debate has centred on what Spurs fans want and think on the issue. They are one stakeholder, but not the most important one. The most important group is the wider Jewish community, the vast majority of whom, according to various Jewish organisations and individuals, outside of Spurs fans do not want the word to be sung. Many Jewish Spurs fans share that view. There is broadly an acceptance that Spurs fans do not mean harm when they sing it — many don’t even know its meaning — but it is a deeply uncomfortable, offensive situation for many to have tens of thousands of people chanting a racist word that can trigger a range of negative emotions.

“I was always frightened by it,” says David Baddiel, the Jewish writer and comedian, who launched the Y-word campaign 10 years ago to raise awareness and tackled the issue of antisemitism in his book Jews Don’t Count. “As a Chelsea fan, when it started I found it unbelievably frightening. This is something a lot of people don’t understand, people who aren’t Jewish or haven’t had this experience. If you are Jewish, especially if you come from a background where your parents or grandparents had to flee from genocide, if a huge crowd starts chanting aggressively a hate word to the Jews it brings out an incredible amount of racial memory. But I don’t think people understand that — they think it’s just something shouted at football.”

Other opposing fans have had similar issues with hearing Spurs fans singing the Y-word. Simon Round, a match-going Chelsea fan since the 1980s says: “I just think it’s counterproductive. I understand the reasons but I just don’t get how thousands of Spurs fans are singing that word. I just don’t really understand that. And it provokes a response, which is unfortunate. And it’s pejorative.”

Dave Rich, a Jewish Manchester United fan and the director of policy of the Community Security Trust — a charity that protects the Jewish community from antisemitism — adds: “It makes me feel hurt and angry that people can sing a racist slur about Jews in a football ground and nothing happens. There’s a great history of clubs across Europe having an attachment with their local Jewish community and of Jewish players and managers, it’s a brilliant and important part of football’s history and I wish there was more attention paid to it. But it’s the word. The word has to go.”

Many Jewish and non-Jewish Spurs fans also feel deeply uncomfortable hearing Tottenham supporters sing the Y-word, as the club’s research has demonstrated. Almost half of respondents to the club’s consultation said they would like to see fans use the Y-word less or stop altogether. And while some may say that is not a consensus, and that many Jews are comfortable or even proud of the chants, that seems to be an odd way to frame the debate. Generally, we don’t ask for a 100 per cent offence rate to question the use of a racist term — generally, the question is whether anyone, not everyone, is offended by something.

Nonetheless, we should acknowledge that this is a deeply complicated subject, and there are many fans who want to cling onto a word so tied up with their and the club’s identity. The fact that it is theirs, and not something that can be commoditised by the club and sold back to them, adds to the word’s appeal. You won’t see the Y-word in the club shop, for instance.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

Cont'd....

In general, supporters don’t like receiving any kind of instructions on their behaviour — though it should be stressed that in this case, it would only be a request to assess their usage of a word — and the results of the 2019 consultation were hardly overwhelming in favour of stopping singing the Y-word. After all, less than half of all respondents said they would prefer to see supporters chant the Y-word less or stop using it altogether. Some Spurs fans The Athletic spoke to said that the real issue is not them singing the Y-word but the outright antisemitism they face from opposition fans.

Whatever your perspective, Spurs are determined for the next step of their action on the Y-word to be a collaborative process, and not supporters being lectured. Ultimately, only the fans will decide what they should and shouldn’t sing.

And it’s important to stress that this is not about demonising Spurs supporters for saying this word. But hearing from Baddiel and a range of different voices from inside and outside the Jewish community, The Athletic has attempted to explain and understand the power the word has, and the fact that football does not take place in a vacuum. Spurs fans may not mean harm when they sing the word, but by singing it, they can make people in the stadium and watching on television feel uncomfortable, fearful and all manner of other negative emotions.

There are other issues at play for Jews hearing Spurs fans use the Y-word, as Baddiel explains: “When I hear Spurs fans singing it, the main thing I think is, ‘You’re not Jewish’. Because most of them are not. And even though Spurs fans say we’re using it as a weapon against racism, you’re not Jews and you don’t have the right to say you’re reclaiming this word.

“Spurs fans have said this to me — and I say only Jews can do this, because there is not a single example in the history of hate words of it being reclaimed by people who are not from that minority.”

Baddiel and other Jewish football fans also told The Athletic of hurtful experiences where they were informed by non-Jewish Tottenham supporters that the Y-word was no longer theirs and had been reclaimed by the club’s fans. “I remember a Spurs fan, and I found this deeply offensive, saying to me, ‘It’s our word now’,” Baddiel says. “It can never be your word, mate, because my mum was born in Nazi Germany, and I am hyper-aware as a result of that of the consequences of casual to extreme antisemitism, and that word is associated with that spectrum, and will always be associated with it. So I don’t care how important your football club is, don’t tell me that word is empty of all that significance because you chant it at a football ground.

“You have to imagine if it was any other minority. If a mainly white club had called themselves the N-word and called themselves ‘the N-word army’ that club would be shut down tomorrow.”

This final point leads onto an issue that many feel confused by: that in an age of very welcome racial sensitivity, a hate word can be sung so brazenly by tens of thousands of people without a flicker of recognition — irrespective of the intention of those singing it.

Take Sunday’s match against Leeds United for instance, when the following will happen: the players will take a knee against all forms of racism and discrimination. As soon as they are finished, a hearty chorus of “Y*ddos” or one of its variants will be sung by tens of thousands of people with impunity. This is effectively saying to the Jewish community that all forms of racism and discrimination will not be tolerated, apart from antisemitism.

Sunday’s game will also demonstrate another issue that lies within Spurs’ fans singing the Y-word: the fact that often opposing supporters respond with something antisemitic. And this is a key element of the discussion — that not only is the Y-word offensive to many people in and of itself, it often leads to outright antisemitism from opposition fans. There is also a widespread acceptance, as Pollard pointed out, that having Spurs fans singing the Y-word, even if their intentions are not to offend, can blur and confuse the discussion, be that for stewards or supporters.

One of the supporters who will be in the away end on Sunday is Nadav Winehouse, who is one of Leeds United’s many Jewish fans and is bracing himself to hear the Y-word followed by outright antisemitic chanting on Sunday. “Spurs fans singing the Y-word will make me feel uncomfortable but it’s expected,” he says. “What worries me is how Leeds fans will react. Hopefully, we’ll react OK but you never know if there’ll be a couple of macarons who will try and get an antisemitic chant going.

“People think it’s just a football insult rather than an act of racism, effectively. It makes people think it’s a football matter rather than a societal matter. I’d like to see fans not singing that word.”

“The key thing is that it’s very much not just about Spurs fans, and the way I come across the Y-word and have done for many years is via Chelsea fans who chant the word in a different way,” says Baddiel. “And in an extremely aggressive way with associated antisemitic chants about everything from foreskins to Auschwitz. It’s a really obvious dynamic because football fans sing call-and-response — one crowd starts with something, another answers back.

“People don’t understand that — while what mostly happens is Chelsea fans chant the Y-word at Spurs fans, players, former players and so on — you also have a situation like when we played (Israeli team) Maccabi Tel Aviv and they sing it at them. It’s very blurred.

“But what I’d like… what I tend to notice on social media is a weird idea of blame coming in. So Spurs fans saying it’s Chelsea’s fault and vice versa. I don’t care whose fault it is. What I care about is antisemitism in society but this is at football, and there’s no question that the continuing use of Spurs as Y*ds leads to more antisemitism at football matches. And so I don’t care whose fault it is — it just needs to be broken down and thought about and deconstructed and really stopped in the end. I don’t know if that can happen but that’s what there needs to be an awareness of.”

Simon Johnson, who at the time was the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, made a related point to The Athletic in August 2019: “There is not antisemitism because Tottenham fans call themselves ‘Y*d Army’. But it is my view that you will never eliminate antisemitism within football while Tottenham fans continue to call themselves the ‘Y*d Army’. It is not part of the cause, and it would be unfair for anybody to say that it was. But there is no question that it would have to be part of the solution.”

It’s important not to get too bogged down in the extent to which Spurs fans singing the Y-word leads to the horrific chants that, say, Chelsea fans throw back at them — too often, the debate has centred on blame and assessing varying degrees of antisemitism. It’s clear that while Spurs’ fans chanting of the Y-word does not exist in isolation, it’s on an immeasurably different scale to some of the horrific songs about Auschwitz and the holocaust that are aimed at Tottenham supporters domestically and in European matches.

Most Spurs fans view the latter as the far bigger issue here, but what’s more important is to consider what it’s like for Jewish fans to have to hear this back and forth.

Anthony Clavane, a Jewish Leeds fan and the author of Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here?, a history of Jews and football in England, has also been affected by hearing the Y-word.

“I remember walking to White Hart Lane and hearing cries of ‘y*ddos, y*ddos’, I was transported to moments in the past when it has been a threatening thing to my community. That word is not acceptable to my ears.

“I’ve never felt more uncomfortable in a football stadium than hearing those chants,” says a Jewish reporter of hearing a chorus of the Y-word at a game he was working at. “And I knew it was coming. You’re just sat there and they’re singing this word.”

Looking ahead, Clavane says: “Any consultation on this should not just be with Spurs fans, it should be with Jewish football fans. When I go to a Spurs game, it’s not like only their fans can hear what their fans are singing. We need to ask: what do the Jewish fans of all clubs think? And even if Jewish Spurs fans think it’s OK, anecdotally Jewish non-Spurs fans don’t want it to be used.”

Baddiel adds: “In all the surveys and initiatives, you should surely go to the minority group first, not the football club.”

Spurs, though, are only one organisation in all of this, and their focus naturally is on their own supporters and the use of the Y-word. The broader issue of antisemitism is something that requires buy-in from all of football’s stakeholders and some steps are at least being taken. Anti-racism charity Kick It Out announced in February that they have launched an antisemitism working group, which will be chaired by Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism. Leeds put a note in the match-day programme for their last home game prior to Sunday’s trip to Spurs saying that it was not acceptable to use the Y-word “regardless of its use by other clubs”.

Chelsea, meanwhile, launched their Say No to Antisemitism campaign in 2018 aimed at providing supporters, staff, players and fans with more information and context on the topic.

 

[SpurMeUp]

I just can't get over Baddiel not condemning his own supporter's hissing. That is actually frightening. Spurs supporters carrying on a legacy of fighting racism isn't really so "frightening" is it? And until Baddiel stuck his oar in, the term had evolved into the same thing as 'Goon' 'Hammer' etc.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

And STILL cont'd


Since then, antisemitism has increased on a societal level. In February 2020, the CST said the number of antisemitic hate incidents recorded in the UK had reached a record high — 1,805 antisemitic incidents in the previous year, an increase of seven per cent on 2018’s findings. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) ruled last year that the UK Labour Party had breached the equality act by “committing unlawful harassment” against Jewish people.

Just looking at football in this year alone, Celtic had to condemn the “vile” antisemitic abuse aimed at Israeli defensive midfielder Nir Bitton in January after a defeat by Rangers. In October, police were forced to investigate allegations of a Saudi Sportswashing Machine supporter making a Nazi salute towards Spurs fans. Already this month, a Chelsea fan who posted antisemitic tweets aimed at Tottenham fans, including photos of Auschwitz and a man performing a Nazi salute, was jailed. A West Ham supporter was arrested after social media footage showed West Ham supporters singing an antisemitic song towards a Jewish man on a plane.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is also the subject of frequent antisemitism. It normally plays out in implicit nods to traditional anti-Jewish tropes like being tight with money and a ruthless businessman, but sometimes it becomes even more explicit. In August, a caller to the radio station Talksport said of Levy, in relation to whether he would sell Harry Kane: “He’s a Jew, he’s not going to let him go for nothing, is he?”

Spurs said they were “appalled” at “the failure to call out the antisemitic trope” there and then. Talksport apologised and said that nothing was said live because the radio presenters thought, correctly, that the call would not be broadcast on the radio and were caught out by the fact it was being streamed live on YouTube. Many Jewish supporters The Athletic spoke to said the way Levy is portrayed in the media makes them feel deeply uncomfortable and often angry. Other Jewish people involved in football told The Athletic that they have been subjected to similar tropes and stereotypes, and the use of the Y-word in an insulting way.

This context helps to explain why the use of the Y-word, whatever its intention, is especially harmful and offensive to the wider Jewish community right now (though it’s never been anything but a racial slur), and why there is such a desire for it not to be sung at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“Our position is that the Y-word is a racist insult and an antisemitic term of abuse,” says Rich, the director of policy of the CST. “That’s its core meaning. Having thousands of people singing it out loud is not a good thing — whether they mean it in a harmful way or not.”

Amanda Bowman, the vice-president of the UK’s largest Jewish community organisation, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, says: “Many UK Jews find Tottenham fans’ use of the Y-word problematic. While we understand the argument that they have reclaimed the use of an antisemitic term and use it in defiance of hatred, we also feel that use of the word perpetuates antisemitism in football. We would like Tottenham Hotspur and every club they play to take a strong line against its use at matches.”

Meanwhile, David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham and a non-Jewish Spurs fan says: “I feel uncomfortable with the Y-word being chanted. I think it’s particularly hard for Jewish fans from other teams when it’s being chanted by non-Jews. It’s unacceptable and offensive. I understand the history and reason the word was reclaimed by fans decades ago, but the time has come to confine its use to the history books.”

The anti-racism charity Kick It Out has said that: “We have clarified our policy on antisemitism and the use of the Y-word on a number of occasions — we believe it has no place in football regardless of context.”

In general, then, Tottenham planning to take these steps and engage more with the debate is welcome. But there will undoubtedly be some Tottenham supporters who flinch at the idea they should stop using the Y-word, who feel that they have a degree of ownership over it. And some Jewish Tottenham fans feel that it’s even more valuable to hold onto the Y-word as a badge of honour in the context of growing antisemitism. Then there are those for whom using it is habitual, but who acknowledge its inappropriateness. “I’m very much a Y-word chanter — I always have been,” says Adam Nathan, a Jewish season-ticket holder at Spurs. “But if they banned it, I would stop, no problem, because as a normal human being, there probably is no defence for singing it.”

Another view, held by many, is that this is long overdue and that Spurs should do more and come out stronger against the use of the Y-word. Broadly though, the consensus is that this can’t be a diktat from on high, and that the next step is having conversations with fans and providing them with as much information as possible.

So, what are the solutions, if any, to this intractable problem?

To get a sense of how not to tackle the issue, we only need to go back to the last decade.

In September 2013, the Football Association decided that the Y-word was “inappropriate in a football setting” and “could amount to a criminal offence”. Within weeks, three Spurs fans were arrested for using it and were charged with racially-aggravated public order offences. The Crown Prosecution Service then decided in March 2014 that there was “insufficient evidence” to convict because of the context in which the words were used. This futile crackdown provoked bewilderment that it was Spurs fans being arrested for antisemitism when they had faced so much of it themselves. It even provoked a new, more defiant terrace chant that is still regularly sung today: “They tried to stop us and look what it did, the thing I love most is being a Y*d.”

Some Spurs fans may feel similarly now, when learning that the club intends to ask them to consider the appropriateness of using the word.

“I don’t want anyone to go to jail for doing it (singing the Y-word as a Spurs fan),” says Clavane. “It’s about having conversations, and rather than it be a toxic altercation on social media, when people are in denial, I just want to sit down and talk and say this is the situation. Anything that can be written and open the conversation with Spurs fans would be good. But I have been saying this for the last 10 years.”

The need for this dialogue is accentuated by the fact that Tottenham and Chelsea’s focus groups on the subject have revealed that many fans are not even aware that the Y-word relates to the Jewish community, thinking that it simply means a Spurs fan. This misunderstanding was not helped in Tottenham’s eyes when the Oxford English Dictionary last year expanded its definition of the word “Y*d” to include a “supporter of or player for” the club. “As a club we have never accommodated the use of the Y-word on any club channels or in club stores and have always been clear that our fans (both Jewish and gentile) have never used the term with any intent to cause offence,” a Spurs spokesperson said at the time. “We find the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of the word misleading given it fails to distinguish context, and welcome their clarification.”

It was this development that prompted Pollard, along with the chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council Jonathan Goldstein, to write that they could no longer use the word at Spurs games: “By Spurs fans using the word Y*d, we give the appearance of legitimising its use by others. This can’t be ignored.”

A year on, Pollard says: “Would I ban it? Would I ban fans who use it? Probably not, I don’t think I’d go that far. But would I argue that they shouldn’t use it now? Yes. Would I chant, as I used to? No. Would I remove people who did from the ground? I don’t think I’d go that far either. But I would certainly try to persuade them not to. And I would encourage Tottenham to say we don’t want you to sing this anymore.”

Others, like Lammy, go further. “At some point, the club needs to make it clear that it has reached a zero-tolerance stage and fans chanting it will be ejected.”

He also stresses the need for an awareness-raising campaign, “whether that’s via advertisements during the game, or articles in the programme”. Spurs are intending to launch this kind of campaign next year.

As to what that will look like in practice, it’s interesting to see what Chelsea have done. It is worth stressing that Chelsea’s programme was in response to horrific antisemitic chanting, rather than the more nuanced challenge Tottenham face.

In any case, Chelsea launched their Say No To Antisemitism programme three years ago and did so with a great deal of publicity. Players such as Eden Hazard were part of a video launch, there was frequent information in match-day programmes, and last year the club became the first sports team to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. In February, Chelsea set up a Say No To Antisemitism website, and have taken supporters to Auschwitz to help them understand the history of antisemitism. They have also engaged with the Jewish community and its organisations throughout.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

And STILL cont'd (wishing I hadn't bothered now...)

Spurs don’t have the same issue with antisemitism, but it’s interesting looking at the Chelsea example to see that only by going all-in has their message begun to cut through. And that the most important aspect of their programme has been opening up dialogue with supporters and discussing how harmful their singing is to the Jewish community. And understanding that for many supporters, antisemitism is handed down the generations and there is a lot of ignorance about the meaning of the Y-word.

Antisemitism is still a big issue Chelsea as a club have to tackle, but they have received widespread acclaim for their efforts and incidences of antisemitic abuse has reduced. And, again without wishing to get into the blame game or suggest they are equivalent, a reduction in Spurs fans singing the Y-word might have a positive effect in this regard.

Borussia Dortmund are another club to have taken a strong stance against antisemitism, and their varied efforts on raising awareness of the issue includes taking staff and supporters to visit death camps every year. In a video on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2019, the club’s employees, fans and players read the names of Dortmunders who died. The Holocaust is of particular significance to the club as the former Dortmund-Sud train station was the starting point for the deportation to death camps of around 1,000 Dortmund citizens in the 1940s.

Closer to home, there have been similar campaigns. Baddiel and his brother Ivor launched the Y-word campaign in 2011, with support from Kick It Out. At the time, the Baddiels were met with a huge amount of resistance and it was not an easy programme to get off the ground. There was also a huge amount of pushback from Spurs fans — even with a club legend like Gary Lineker involved.

Speaking to Tottenham supporters, a commonly held view is that any campaign to stop the singing of the Y-word should be fan-led, be that on social media or at the stadium, or a combination of these and other platforms. And that while the club should encourage the conversation, anything that comes from them that is perceived as didactic or dictatorial risks being met with a response along the lines of, “You charge the most expensive season tickets in the country, you wanted to join the European Super League — don’t tell us what to do”. As mentioned, Spurs themselves share the view that this has to be a collaborative process and have no intention of telling supporters what to do or think.

The issue is that supporters take up the mantle, since so many Spurs fans don’t have a problem with the Y-word. Many clubs have, for instance, LGBTQ+ groups promoting diversity and inclusivity, but it’s hard to imagine a Jewish Tottenham fans group campaigning against the Y-word given how divisive it is amongst even Jewish Spurs supporters. And part of the resistance to it comes from outside the club.

Underpinning the reluctance of some Spurs supporters to engage is that many, even ones who see themselves as progressive and promoting diversity, admit to a degree of myopia when it comes to their own fans singing the Y-word. “As a Spurs fan, especially in the last 30 years when we’ve been using it more, you have a blind spot to it because in your mind, it’s not a slur,” as one supporter puts it. “You’d be terribly embarrassed if you supported Leeds or West Ham because that’s a case of hearing overt antisemitism. With us, you bristle a bit, and then think, ‘You’re not being antisemitic, it’s not so bad’.”

Testimonies like these show why it’s so important that fans are aware of the harmful consequences of singing the Y-word. And it should not fall on Jewish organisations alone to advocate for it to be stopped.

“The fans need to take responsibility and come up with a different way of identifying themselves,” says Rich from the CST. “The club needs to encourage them to do that. A straight ban won’t work — I’ve been a match-going fan all my life and you can’t tell fans what to do — but some leadership is needed. Spurs fans need to drop it themselves, they need to change their culture.

“I suspect the club are quite embarrassed by it. Every time we watch football there are ‘No to Racism’ statements on the screen. And yet you have a set of fans in the Premier League, some of whom identify themselves with a really old and nasty racist insult.”

Spurs are a club that prides themselves on diversity and inclusion, and it is hoped that asking fans to assess the appropriateness of using the Y-word will help them in this regard.

We don’t know how the next stage of Spurs’ action on the Y-word will be received or if it will go far enough, but anything that can raise awareness of the harm it causes to members of the Jewish community, inside and outside of the club, has to be a good thing.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

I just can't get over Baddiel not condemning his own supporter's hissing. That is actually frightening. Spurs supporters carrying on a legacy of fighting racism isn't really so "frightening" is it? And until Baddiel stuck his oar in, the term had evolved into the same thing as 'Goon' 'Hammer' etc.

Below, an excerpt from Baddiel’s book, condemning Chelsea.

An example from my sporting life. In 2008, I was sitting, as usual on a Saturday afternoon, with my brother Ivor watching Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We’d been going for many years, and by this point sat in the Upper East ”
“Stand. Chelsea were playing Aston Villa. The game was dull. On the big screen, a score came up of another match. Tottenham Hotspur were being beaten by Hull.
The bored crowd picked up on this and started chanting ‘We hate Tottenham, and we hate Tottenham’. Then, with wearying predictability, this mutated into the crowd chanting the word ‘Yiddo’. For those who don’t know about this phenomenon, the Tottenham Hotspur football club (known as Spurs) is located in an area of London that is fairly well populated by Jews. For this reason, Spurs fans both self-identify and are identified by others as a ‘Jewish’ club – even though the vast majority of them aren’t Jewish – and this leads to various chants based around the word ‘Yid’. Those who do know about it are still generally confused, as they tend to think it’s all just Spurs fans chanting this word ‘positively’. It isn’t. It is also chanted by the fans of Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham and other clubs at Spurs fans, menacingly, horribly, along with associated anti-Semitic chants – ‘Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz’, for example – and hissing to simulate the noise of gas chambers.

On this particular afternoon, the chanting of the word ‘Yiddo’ was joined by one particular fan about ten rows behind us deciding to shout, repeatedly, ‘fudge the fudging Yids! fudge the fudging Yids!’ And then, just to make clear that, by Yids, he didn’t just mean ‘Spurs fans’, that became ‘fudge the fudging Jews! fudge the fudging Jews!’. This went on for some time. Me and Ivor looked at each other. Ivor said: ‘What should we do?’ I shrugged. So then my brother, bless him, got up, turned round and told the bloke to shut up. The man replied, in the classic mode, ‘No, you fudging shut up.’ Ivor said, ‘No, you fudging shut up.’ And then, miraculously, he did. The racist shut up. Ivor sat down and said, ‘I think I’m going to cry.’
By the time this happened, we had sat – well, stood and then sat – listening to this stuff at Stamford Bridge for thirty years. Over that period the culture around racism in football changed immeasurably. In the 1970s, football fandom was unbelievably racist, and immense strides were made to eradicate it over the next decades by organisations like Kick It Out. By 2008, the world had definitely moved on. So much so that the Chelsea programme that day contained a very clear message that any racist abuse heard in the stands at matches would lead to immediate intervention by stewards and a life-ban for the abuser concerned.
Well, not any racist abuse, it turns out. No steward intervened when this happened; and no life-ban was imposed on the man shouting ‘fudge the fudging Jews’. The world had moved on. But it seems that it had forgotten something; it had left one racism behind.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

I just can't get over Baddiel not condemning his own supporter's hissing. That is actually frightening. Spurs supporters carrying on a legacy of fighting racism isn't really so "frightening" is it? And until Baddiel stuck his oar in, the term had evolved into the same thing as 'Goon' 'Hammer' etc.

And, there is absolutely no way that the word “Yid” has “evolved into the same thing as goon or hammer”. There is a world beyond football, you know. In that world, antisemitism is a thing, and so are antisemitic slurs.