Kick Racism Out Of Football: antiSemitism debate

Those of us of a certain vintage can recall when racism was less than unusual at football matches in England. The spite and bile which greeted the earliest black players in this country will forever be a stain on the character of English people, and especially football supporters. Thankfully things have moved on considerably, with racism now being the province of a few small-minded bigots. Changes in the law have helped speed up changes in attitudes, so that the vast majority of the football-going public are now loath to tolerate racial intolerance.

And yet, in recent years there has been a slow return to some of the racism that many of us thought had been removed from football. While much of this has come from perhaps unsurprising overseas sources, there still remains work to be done in England. Much of this work is being done quietly, but effectively by organisations such as Show Racism The Red Card (www.srtrc.org) and Kick It Out (www.kickitout.org).

A few weeks ago (8th April) I had the pleasure and honour of being invited by Kick It Out as a guest speaker for an event being held at the National Football Museum in Manchester (www.kickitout.org/join-spurs-legend-garth-crooks-for-free-y-word-debate/). The focus of the evening was a debate on the use of the "Y-word" in football. The other panellists included Anthony Clavane (sportswriter and author of Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here?), David Conn (sportswriter for The Guardian) and Alex Goldberg (Chair of the FA's Football and Faith Group). The chair was originally meant to be occupied by Garth Crooks, but owing to duties elsewhere he was unable to attend and the meeting was ably chaired by Kick It Out's Director, Roisin Wood.

The discussion was divided into two halves! The first half was devoted to discussion of whether or not the usage of the Y-word by Spurs fans was in of itself racist; the second half was devoted to a more general discussion of racism and antisemitism in football, preceded by a showing of the Baddiel brothers' film on "Yids", which takes an un-nuanced, negative view of usage of the word in any context. It was a pity that the team responsible for the 3 Spurs' fans who had been arrested for usage of the word "yids" (or one of its variants) did not appear until the second half of the debate. Their desire to bring their experience to the debate would have been particularly helpful during the first half, but following the break discussion had already moved on to the more general aspects.

A quick summary of the panel's views might be as follows: My own views have already been aired on this blog on more than one occasion. For me context is everything. However, Anthony Clavane took a different view, largely coloured by his having been on the receiving end of negative usage of the word in his youth by antisemites. David Conn took a more liberal approach, while Alex Goldberg appeared to be more in line with Anthony. However, while decrying its use by Spurs' supporters, Anthony was not in favour of arrests or legislation.

It was an interesting evening, made all the more special for me sharing a platform with two such illustrious and renowned sports' writers (in particular). The audience were also lively and made for some interesting contributions to the debate. It was a debate that could have gone on for MUCH longer, and might perhaps have been more effective had it been held in a north London venue, such as Tottenham Hotspur's ground. I remain hopeful that should this debate continue Kick It Out will sponsor such an event in the near future.