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Antisemitism in English football and supporter culture
Author(s): Poulton, Emma
Editor(s): Poulton, Emma
Date: 2025
Topics: Antisemitism, Anti-Antisemitism, Football, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: This chapter outlines the character, causes and extent of antisemitism within English football. This has included several high-profile incidents within English men’s football involving professional players, coaches, officials, and especially supporters. The chapter begins with a short historical background to the presence of Jews and antisemitism in England before moving onto the current situation and then considering how antisemitism is manifest within English football. The chapter expounds why Tottenham historically developed a quasi-Jewish identity that serves as a catalyst for antisemitic abuse from rival supporters. In doing so, the chapter examines the different subcultural meanings and intentions behind the controversial uses of the word ‘Yid’ within the context of English football supporter culture, which has been re-appropriated by Tottenham fans. Finally, the chapter critically reviews the responses to antisemitism in English football by governing bodies within the sport, Jewish community organisations, campaign groups, the criminal justice system, and professional football clubs.
“What have 6 million dead people got to do with football?”: How Anglo-Jewish football supporters experience and respond to antisemitism and “banter”
Author(s): Poulton, Emma
Date: 2024
Topics: Antisemitism, Hate, Football, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Jewish Perceptions of Antisemitism, Interviews
Abstract: Life-story interviews with 39 Jewish supporters of a football club whose quasi-Jewish identity is the catalyst for antisemitic abuse were used to explain the under-researched everyday experiences among members of the Anglo-Jewish community. All interviewees said their experiences of antisemitism within English men’s football supporter culture were much worse than in wider society. All interviewees believed references to Hitler and the Holocaust exceeded any threshold of acceptability and that the death of 6 million people should never be associated with football. While denigration of Jewish rituals and practices was offensive and problematic for some, Jewish stereotypes tended to be downplayed, dismissed, or tolerated by most interviewees as part of the “banter” endemic in English supporter culture to lessen or disrupt the impact of the hate speech they endure. These responses indicate complex processes of anger, acceptance and rationalisation as recipients attempt to make sense of and deal with everyday antisemitism.
Tackling antisemitism within English football: a critical analysis of policies and campaigns using a multiple streams approach
Author(s): Poulton, Emma
Date: 2019
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Education against, Football, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Sports
Abstract: While the anti-racist movement in English football has been established for 25 years, antisemitism was not specifically addressed until much later – most publicly through anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out’s The Y-Word (2011) film campaigning against the use of ‘Yid’ in football fan culture. Antisemitism has occupied a sporadic position on football’s wider anti-racism agenda. Antisemitism in football is also a neglected area of research. The article addresses this academic indifference by contributing a critical analysis of the intermittent responses to antisemitism in English men’s football – by governing bodies, campaigners, and the criminal justice system – using a multiple streams approach to understand policy formulation, legitimation and implementation, arguing these attempts have usually been reactive and sometimes misguided, inconsistent, or misaligned with existing legislation. The role of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ is considered in relation to individuals lobbying for and influencing the priority of tackling formations of antisemitism amidst broader attempts to combat racism and faith-based abuse in football. This empirically-grounded critical analysis is informed by primary data from interviews with elite stakeholders from English football (The Football Association; Kick It Out) and Jewish community (Board of Deputies of British Jews; Jewish Leadership Council; Community Security Trust; Maccabi GB). The article explains the changing political salience of combating antisemitism and concludes with a call for a more congruous and coherent approach to addressing antisemitism, faith-based abuse and other forms of discrimination in football, which might lend itself to other sports and contexts. It also critiques the utility of the multiple streams approach.
Uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football fandom: A case study of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Author(s): Poulton, Emma; Durell, Oliver
Date: 2016
Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism, Football, Sports, Jewish Identity, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations
Abstract: This is the first empirical study to explain the contested uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football fan culture. A pertinent socio-political issue with important policy and legal implications, we explain the different uses of ‘Yid’, making central the cultural context in which it is used, together with the intent underpinning its usage. Focusing upon Kick It Out’s The Y-Word campaign film (which attempted to raise awareness of antisemitism in football by advocating a ‘zero tolerance’ policy approach to ‘Yid’), the complex relationship of Tottenham Hotspur with Judaism is unpacked. The origins of this complexity stem from Tottenham traditionally attracting Jewish fans due to nearby Jewish communities. As a consequence, Tottenham is perceived as a ‘Jewish’ club and their fans have suffered antisemitic abuse from opposing supporters who have disparagingly referred to them as ‘Yids’. In response, Tottenham fans have, since the 1970s, appropriated and embraced the term by identifying as the ‘Yid Army’. Critical analysis of fan forum discourse suggests that many Tottenham fans thought The Y-Word film failed to sufficiently understand or demarcate between the multiple meanings and intentions associated with use of ‘Yid’ as both an ethnic epithet and term of endearment. We call for an appreciation of the nature of language that acknowledges the fluidity and temporality of linguistic reclamation and ‘ownership’ in future policies to combat antisemitism.
Towards understanding: antisemitism and the contested uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football
Author(s): Poulton, Emma
Date: 2016
Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism, Football, Sports, Jewish Identity, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations
Abstract: This article addresses an omission in the currently brief body of work on antisemitism in football and contributes to and advances wider sociological debates in the sub-disciplines of race and ethnicity, religion, linguistics and sport. The article examines antisemitic discourse in English football and in doing so, explains the different uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in the vernacular culture of fans. While many conceive of ‘Yid’ as an ethnic epithet, fans of Tottenham Hotspur – Gentiles and Jews – have appropriated and embraced the term, using it to deflect the antisemitic abuse they are targeted with due to their ‘Jewish identity’. The study maps the contested uses of ‘Yid’ on a continuum to explain and demarcate between the nuanced forms of antisemitism in football. It makes central the cultural context in which ‘Yid’ is used, together with the intent underpinning its use, since epithets and slurs are not simply determined by their lexical form.