Oh dear. I see that Peter Herbert is trying to raise his profile once again. Someone should tell this self-aggrandising self-important irrelevance that he needs to stop thinking he is David Baddiel and deal with the source of the racism (BTW I have been led to believe that anti-Semitism is considered separately from racism, as being Jewish does not constitute a race).
I would refer Herbert to John Efron's learned article on the usage of the term Yids by Spurs supporters, but doubt this would fit in with his attempts to raise his profile. However, let me state once again quite simply the following:
- I am a person of the Jewish faith, a member of the 12 tribes of Israel.
- I abhor totally and unequivocally any form of racism or anti-Semitism.
- If a gentile calls me a Yid then I am very likely to be offended (at the very least), as this is a term which has a long history of being abusive when applied to Jews, and has often been followed by physical oppression and violence.
- The use of the term by Spurs supporters began in the late 1970s as a response to anti-Semitic abuse from opposing fans, who (mistakenly) believe Spurs to be a Jewish football club.
- It has since been claimed as a badge of honour by Spurs fans, for whom many (especially the younger fans) it has become synonymous with supporting Spurs. Such younger fans typically have no knowledge of its origins as an anti-Semitic epithet. The same may also be increasingly said of younger fans of opposing teams.
Mr Herbert: if you are truly serious about removing racism and anti-Semitism from football then you should start by dealing with the large sections of clubs such as Chelsea which constantly barrack Spurs on the basis of our alleged Jewish connections. When they stop calling us "dirty Yids" and making gas chamber sounds, when they stop singing "Spurs areon their way to Auschwitz" I will happily then campaign for my fellow Spurs fans to stop applying the term Yids to ourselves.
I am delighted that Spurs themselves have seen fit to point this lawyer to the terms of the law itself, with which he seems to be not entirely familiar.
Ivan "DrHotspur" Cohen
Glad to be a Yid in every sense of the word.
