Tottenham Hotspur ask fans to 'move on' from using 'anti-Semitic' Y-word

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN

Updated 1341 GMT (2141 HKT) February 11, 2022

Spurs fans welcome their team prior to the UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax at at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 30, 2019 in London, England.

(CNN)English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur has told supporters it is time to «move on» from using the «Y-word» — deemed anti-Semitic — after conducting a review of the term among the club's fanbase.

The review, which had over 23,000 responses, found that 94% of those surveyed acknowledged the Y-word can be considered a racist term against a Jewish person, the club said on Thursday. The word «yid» has inoffensive origins within the Jewish community, but it took on a new meaning in the 1930s — especially in the UK — when it was used as a derogatory term for a Jew or a person of Jewish origin.UK anti-Semitism reaches record high in 2021, report says A north London-based club, Tottenham is known for having a large number of Jewish supporters and Spurs fans, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have adopted the words «Yid,» «Yiddo» and «Yid Army» as a proud self-identifiers in an attempt to nullify the derogatory meaning.«Our supporters' use of the Y-word was initially taken as a positive step to deflect anti-Semitic abuse that they were subjected to at matches more than 40 years ago from opposition fans, who faced no sanctions for their actions,» Tottenham said in a statement.Read MoreBut the club said that while it believes «our fans have never used it with any deliberate attempt to offend,» it acknowledged there is a «growing desire» among supporters to stop using the word.Among the respondents to the survey, 11% identified themselves as Jewish.Harry Kane of