The violence in Lyon last night has been attributed by some quarters as anti-semitic. That seems plausible and ridiculous.
I am a Spurs fan and I am not Jewish; I am neither proud nor ashamed of my non-Jewishness. I have however chanted various songs containing the word "yid" along with thousands of other people on a number of occasions. It's time to stop doing that really - it just gives thugs another excuse for violence and they don't need excuses. There was a time when football violence was regarded as quite simply the work of mindless working class thugs who didn't know any better; great days indeed. Spurs fans dished it out in Rotterdam in the seventies; Liverpool were hardly blameless in the eighties; Leeds fans were subjected to it in the nineties and recently Man Utd, Liverpool, the Goons and us have all been coshed by coppers and fans abroad. But it's become different with Spurs now that racism is topical in English football (even though it's the most actively anti-racist football environment on the planet) and before you know it, every time us Spurs fans come into conflict, verbal or otherwise with other clubs, it's all anti-semitism this and Mel Gibson is a tw*t that. Quite a few of my mates are Gooners, which is something they just have to live with I suppose, and they hate 'yids' as much as I hate them when football's on the agenda. They are not racist or anti-semitic, but the 'yid' tag-line is ours and fair game for football banter as much as the bin-dipping scousers and Grimsby's Harry the Haddock. It's time Spurs fans dis-associated themselves with ridiculous and archaic religions; the Welsh Wizard is the only druid we need.
Thank you, the reverend Iyke.
I am a Spurs fan and I am not Jewish; I am neither proud nor ashamed of my non-Jewishness. I have however chanted various songs containing the word "yid" along with thousands of other people on a number of occasions. It's time to stop doing that really - it just gives thugs another excuse for violence and they don't need excuses. There was a time when football violence was regarded as quite simply the work of mindless working class thugs who didn't know any better; great days indeed. Spurs fans dished it out in Rotterdam in the seventies; Liverpool were hardly blameless in the eighties; Leeds fans were subjected to it in the nineties and recently Man Utd, Liverpool, the Goons and us have all been coshed by coppers and fans abroad. But it's become different with Spurs now that racism is topical in English football (even though it's the most actively anti-racist football environment on the planet) and before you know it, every time us Spurs fans come into conflict, verbal or otherwise with other clubs, it's all anti-semitism this and Mel Gibson is a tw*t that. Quite a few of my mates are Gooners, which is something they just have to live with I suppose, and they hate 'yids' as much as I hate them when football's on the agenda. They are not racist or anti-semitic, but the 'yid' tag-line is ours and fair game for football banter as much as the bin-dipping scousers and Grimsby's Harry the Haddock. It's time Spurs fans dis-associated themselves with ridiculous and archaic religions; the Welsh Wizard is the only druid we need.
Thank you, the reverend Iyke.
Nor any great Jewish managers.
