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Today I am proud to welcome my pal Richard (@R_Gooner) as my guest writer and he has something important to say.
Firstly, I’d like to introduce myself to those who don’t know me personally or even follow me on Twitter. I’m a passionate Arsenal fan, my first visit to Arsenal (Highbury) was in 1975 and I was hooked by a totally miserable 1-2 defeat by Ipswich. My first season ticket was in 1982 etc etc etc and…
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I’m also Jewish not overly religious but to quote Monty Python “I’m a jew! I’m a yid, a heebie, a hook-nose, a Red Sea pedestrian! I’m Kosher momma, and I’m proud of it!” as I am of being a Gooner.
I hate Tottenham Hotspur Football Club not in a nasty way but I just hate them. This in itself is strange as they’ve brought me so much pleasure and laughter over the years. I’m not usually bothered by what they do, this again is strange as in my 46 years on this earth, they haven’t done much. However, the way Tottenham Hotspur fans call themselves the Yids, Yid Army or Yiddos has always grated with me. Things have certainly changed since the days of the ‘80s when the chants in response from opposing fans were vile and sickening and are certainly not heard now as they were back in the day.
“There are terms and words below that I’d never use or condone but to explain my thoughts it is essential they are used on this one occasion”
There are plenty of different points of view to look at the Y-word argument.
Jewish Tottenham fansNon-Jewish Tottenham fansNon-Jewish fans of other clubsAnd finally, Jewish fans of other clubs.
The final category seems to be the most overlooked while discussing this subject. Tottenham’s main rivals are Chelsea, West Ham and, of course, The Arsenal. I am obviously writing and giving my opinion from a Jewish Arsenal fan’s point of view.
An argument I often hear is that Yid to Tottenham is what Gooner is to Arsenal.
This is not true. ‘Yid’ has meanings that stretch farther & wider than anything to do with Tottenham Hotspur. Whereas ‘Gooner’ is soley a word made by a group of Arsenal fans for Arsenal fans. To this I come up with a simple and somewhat light-hearted response. There are plenty of Yids that are Arsenal fans but to my knowledge there are no Gooners that are Spurs fans.
I’ve had many discussions with Arsenal and Spurs fans, both Jewish and non-Jewish over the years, never usually agreeing with their argument about the use of the ‘Y’ word. The debate has once again hit the mainstream media agenda in the past few weeks when news that the FA were trying to taking action against use of the word Yid by any football fan.
What followed has been a very mixed reaction. Adrian Durham interviewed David Baddiel on TalkSPORT and an intriguing three hour debate ensued.
Over the next week, various figures and bodies of great stature have had their say. The Prime Minister gave his opinion, prominent Rabbis in North London and the community Support Trust, who are the body that protect the Jewish community from the external threats of bigotry, anti-Semitism and terrorism, all gave their views.
That’s pretty much where we are at the moment.
Time for my opinion, an opinion when I tweet about this subject usually results in a loss of followers. But my tweets are there to be read and they’re entertaining, informative and not part of a popularity contest. I’m not going to pretend that I can change the world and I don’t expect Spurs fans to even give the thought the time of day. People hold prejudices and this won’t change.
I understand the historic association of Spurs and the Jewish community and the considerable percentage of Jewish fans. However, the fan base is not too dissimilar to Arsenal’s. This renders the use of the word and the identity redundant at the lowest level. Also due to the current difference in stadium sizes, Arsenal attract more Jewish fans to games at The Emirates than Spurs do to White Hart Lane. Apart from the supporters, modern Arsenal has been shaped by the Jewish influence of David Dein and the late Danny Fiszman.
Many have argued that it’s OK for Spurs to use the word. Even David Cameron said ‘There’s a difference between Spurs fans self-describing themselves as Yids and someone calling someone a Yid as an insult’
I am a Jewish Arsenal fan like many thousands of others and find the fact that the use of Yid by Tottenham fans does indeed offend us.
The first game at White Hart Lane after this recent debate was the Spurs match against Norwich which was on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the most religious day of the Jewish year. I assume that there was not a great Jewish representation in the Spurs crowd at the Norwich game. Despite this, the Yiddo chants were loud and clear
Tottenham fans at White Hart Lane
So these are non-Jewish fans describing themselves as Yids as a badge of honour. Yet when Daniel Levy was negotiating the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, a small section of fans took to twitter to abuse Levy and the fact that he is Jewish. Maybe this will spur (no pun intended) the Spurs board to take action and encourage the ending of the use at White Hart Lane. The use of the word at White Hart Lane is somehow seen as endearing when quite rightly in modern society other terms are 100% frowned upon.
When Jermain Defoe appears for Spurs, his chant is heard loud and clear, “Jermain Defoe is a Yiddo! Jermain Defoe is a Yiddo!” Imagine the outcry if the song was actually – and I apologise for using this but imagine just imagine “Jermain Defoe is a N—–” Quite rightly it just wouldn’t happen.
As I said earlier, the vile and sickening chants of the 1980s have certainly reduced and at games at Emirates Stadium have almost died out. Yet the chant of “Yiddo Yiddo” does still echo after the ‘We Hate Tottenham!’ - Totally unacceptable and certainly not necessary. But fans of a certain age will remember much more sickening chants “Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz, Hitler’s gonna gas ‘em again” and “I never felt more like gassing the Jews when Arsenal win and Tottenham lose” echoing around Highbury. As I said, thankfully these have virtually disappeared from home games and aren’t common at away games.
Many Arsenal fans say their use of Yid and Yiddo is only aimed at Tottenham and has no Jewish connotations. I strongly disagree. Certain chants do remain and you can’t tell me singing “Driving down the Lane, in a black Mercedes Benz, shooting all the Yids, making lots of friends” doesn’t sound anti-Semitic? I strongly believe that if Tottenham stopped using the Y-word, the anti-Semitic replies would fade away and finally stop. Interestingly, the loudest and clearest singing of that Mercedes song I have heard was at Whitton station a couple of seasons ago. Arsenal had just won 2-1 with a last minute goal scored by Yossi Benayoun. Oh, the irony!
Going back to David Cameron’s quotes that “There’s a difference between Spurs fans self-describing themselves as Yids and someone calling someone a Yid as an insult.” What would Mr Cameron say if a club in a strong Conservative area called themselves the Tories, then it caused a rival club to sing “The Tories are on their way to Brighton, the IRA are going bomb them again”. My guess is he’d take that seriously and it would be resolved by the club dropping the Tory nickname.
The CST do a great job protecting the Jewish community and its prominent figures. But in its response to the FA Statement The CST said, “We have consistently said that Spurs fans’ use of the Y-word does not remotely compare with, nor in any way legitimise, the vile and unacceptable anti-Semitic abuse that is all too often heard from opposing fans. Ultimately, ridding football of anti-Semitism needs to involve Spurs fans voluntarily dropping the Y-word from their songbook.”
The CST seem to be implying it only has the interest of Jewish Spurs fans at heart. And the suggestion that Spurs fans should voluntarily drop the word is quite laughable.
Rabbi Schochet, who serves at the Mill Hill synagogue in north London, agrees with the Prime Minister in so far as he is of the opinion that the Tottenham fans’ use of the word is not offensive as it does not come from a place of hatred.
““I maintain that on the Spurs pitch, it is categorically not anti-Semitic and not offensive but rather it is rallying call of support for a team that has a strong Jewish following.” But he then goes on to say, “If the phrase ‘Yiddo’ was yelled at me on the street that would be something entirely different as then, in the first instance, it would be intended as anti-Semitic.”
In my honest opinion, it’s not different if the first use of it by Spurs fans leads to the second use of it as full blown abuse.
In conclusion, let the FA deal with Spurs fans. It’s time for the Tottenham board to realise they have a responsibility that reaches further than the 4 stands of White Hart Lane. Jewish Tottenham fans who think it is fine and turn a blind eye should realise their stance has a knock on effect leading to an increase in anti-Semitic abuse. Think to yourself if you are happy with that!
If you are an Arsenal fan, please remember the next time the Yid chants start, remember you are insulting fellow Arsenal fans too. There are plenty of other sticks to beat Tottenham with and it’s time now to consign the Y-word’s use to history.
I hope you have gained something from reading this and it has gone some way to explaining my hate of the word.
@R_Gooner
