Football must finally take a stand against antisemitism

Football is rooted in love. As kids, we love the simple joy of the game, and as we grow alongside it we love how it melds with what we love – community, family and friends. Football is who we are.

But where there are in-groups there are out-groups, and while as fans our antipathy to everyone who is not “us” mainly constitutes harmless fun … sometimes it doesn’t. The WhatsApp conversations of the Ashburton Army, a prominent Arsenal supporter group, were riddled with antisemitism that included references to Israel, the Holocaust and circumcision. Though I wasn’t surprised when I heard about them because to a Jew, antisemitism is never surprising, when I saw them I was staggered by their harrowing specificity, blase ferocity and mind-boggling abundance – likewise the apparent failure of any of the chat’s administrators to intervene. It is partially because of that omission that police are now investigating the matter.

Obviously all involved are responsible for their behaviour, and football is part of society so reflects its ills accordingly. But it is also a potent social force – why else do nation states want to trap it? – so if we can understand antisemitism in a footballing context, perhaps we can harness the game’s might and reach to make things better.

That it should be necessary makes some kind of sense. Although every Jewish space I’ve encountered has been heavy on football obsession, chances are your team have never had a Jewish player or manager. And because, for reasons of community, most of the UK’s 270,000 Jewish population tend to live in or near big cities, most clubs have few, if any, Jewish supporters, while at the game Jews tend to go incognito, often for reasons of safety. On the other hand, there have