The Jewish community has condemned a video on The Daily Mail which appears to show football fans singing antisemitic chants Saturday before Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur.
The footage, filmed by City fan Anthony Fallon, was shot on a tram heading to the match just 20 minutes before kick-off. Considering what sounds like local accents, the clip threatens to mar the reputation of a club proud of its traditionally strong Jewish links.
Tottenham also has extremely strong ties with the Jewish community, but has been warned by the Football Association in the past for supporters referring to themselves as the “Yid Army.”
“Sick racist chanting has been an enduring part of the football scene in this country for far too long now. It is a criminal offence,” Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies, told the Press Association. “The perpetrators should be arrested and feel the full force of the law.”
The cry from those on the Metrolink tram appears to be: “You’re getting gassed in the morning.”
Fallon described the scene as “a throwback from the 1980s,” when British football was marred by “supporters” partaking in hooliganism and racism.
A similar incident was filmed in Paris in February 2015, when Chelsea fans denied a black man entry onto a subway train as they chanted “we’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it.” The incident occurred before a Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain. Earlier this month, all four involved were handed suspended prison sentences for racist violence and ordered to pay the victim €10,000 (£8,500) in total.
The chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, Simon Johnson, added on the incident in Manchester: “It is incumbent upon all clubs, and the football authorities, to take extra measures to prevent this from happening and rapidly identify the culprits.”
Greater Manchester Police sent out an appealWednesday for help in its investigation into the antisemitic chanting.
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