Jermain Defoe He’s a Spurs Player

I write this whilst sitting aboard a Boeing 737-800 series aircraft bound for London Stansted from Milan Bergamo. Just before I was forced to put away my ipad and acknowledge the fact that I am, for the next two hours, trapped within the utterly de-humanising experience of a Ryanair flight, I read an article published in the Guardian by David Baddiel.

Maybe it is because I will do anything to hide away from the personal hell that is flying the world’s least favourite airline that I feel compelled to write this now. Maybe it’s because until I really sat and thought about it, I really didn’t know how I felt about this issue. That issue is of course the Y word.

As a man in my early 30s who discovered he was Spurs at a relatively late age (11 – I flirted with Liverpool as a youngling and I am not proud of that at all but eventually I couldn’t deny who I was anymore and I’ve not looked back since). I have only really experienced watching football in the post Hillsborough period, and more importantly the Premier League era. Therefore, my White Hart Lane experience, if you subscribe to the “Against Modern Football” mantra, is one that has been slowly diluted over the last 20 years or so.

[linequote]It doesn’t matter how the issue started what matters is how to fix it[/linequote]

I’ll not bore you with the details of the Y word issue, as I am sure that all visitors to this website are fully aware of what it is about. That is in fact my biggest issue with the Y word debate and Baddiel’s apparent attitude towards it. Intentional or not, as a Spurs fans it feels as though we are being portrayed in the media as the guilty party in this, and the anti-Semitic abuse thrown at Spurs fans is barely getting a mention. Baddiel, in his article suggests that the continued abuse directed towards Spurs fans is as a result of our continued claim to the word Yid, and our identity as a “Yid Army”.

I cannot agree with this sentiment, and I find it utterly irrelevant. It is a chicken and egg situation that bears no relevance to the goal of the Y word debate – to remove anti-Semitic abuse at football. It doesn’t matter how the issue started what matters is how to fix it. I can’t help but think that by raising the profile of the debate, and seemingly targeting Spurs as a root cause of the problem, that Baddiel has only succeeded in making things worse, and strengthening the identity of Spurs as the Yids. I have proudly stood in the Park Lane and told the world that “we’re Tottenham Hotspur, we’ll sing what we want”, but I can’t help feeling more and more uneasy with the position.

I briefly mentioned the “Against Modern Footabll” movement earlier, and I refer back to it now, because I believe these two issues are intrinsically linked. I do not wholly subscribe to the philosophy of the AMF movement, maybe that is an issue for another flight, but it is undeniable that football has changed and the match day experience with it.

I have noticed that my attitude towards what I am willing to sing and say at White Hart Lane has changed as I have got older and the game has evolved. I am no longer comfortable singing about Arsene Wenger or Sol Campbell’s sexual preferences – what’s the point? Rather I find myself signing from the 1882 song sheet, lets sing about our love for our club, lets encourage the team rather than “attack” the opposition – after all that is our role as “supporters”.

I acknowledge that as Spurs fans we have claimed the word Yid as our own to protect against the abuse we receive for other fans, but  maybe it’s time we took the first step. Perhaps it’s time we stopped worrying about what the opposition are doing and concentrated on backing the 11 men on the pitch trying to win a game for our beloved club.

Like it or not, modern football is now a family friendly affair and I am uneasy passing on the identity of Spurs as yids to the next generation, if there is any chance that someone will be offended by it.

[linequote]Perhaps it’s time we stopped worrying about what the opposition are doing and concentrated on backing the 11 men on the pitch trying to win a game for our beloved club[/linequote]

I think the time has come for me to add the use of the word Yid to the list of things I will no longer join in with at White Hart Lane. I hope that eventually we will have a section of like minded fans who just want to sing for the shirt and for the love of the club, not the hate of the opposition. For that reason I would encourage you all at some point to attend an 1882 game. I guess in me Mr Baddiel is getting his wish, even if I don’t agree with the way he is going about it.

[author name=”Matt Cowles” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2776817392/783cde00fcfd3a907e262875763d6e36.jpeg” twitter=”deadeye_matt” ]