Plan B Forum

Tottenham defend their supporters over allegations of anti-Semitic abuse by Society of Black Lawyers.

Tottenham have launched a vigorous defence of their own fans after being threatened with prosecution over the use of the word ‘yid’ at White Hart Lane. The club were responding to claims by the Society of Black Lawyers that the term, often used by Spurs fans to describe themselves, is a form of anti-Semitic abuse.

The chairman of the society, Peter Herbert, said that unless the club took firm action against their own fans, many of whom are themselves Jewish, they would be reported to the Metropolitan Police.

But the club said in a statement: “Our guiding principle in respect of the ‘Y-word’ is based on the point of law itself — the distinguishing factor is the intent with which it is used.

“Our fans adopted the chant as a defence mechanism in order to own the term and thereby deflect anti-Semitic abuse. They do not use the term to others to cause any offence, they use it a chant amongst themselves.”

The club, as with many clubs in London, has a large Jewish following and this has led to much antisemitic provocation against Tottenham supporters. Tottenham supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish, united against this and adopted the nickname "Yids", developing chants to support this. Many fans view adopting "Yid" as a badge of pride, helping defuse its power as an insult.

GO SPURS!





Oh, and thanks for your concern, Black Lawyers, but we Jews are rather fond of Tottenham.

The funny thing is, the name 'Yids' is now used almost exclusively by Spurs fans. The rest of us know them as 'Spuds'.

WOW
I haven't heard the term "yid" used for years. I know when I was young it was a derogatory term for Jews, but it's been more than 20 years since I heard (read?) it. Forgot all about it.

ETA
Offensive then (I have many Jewish friends as my high school was about 60% Jewish) and I still find it offensive now.

I think the last time I remember hearing it was on All In The Family....

Interesting. The word of course originates within Judaism without any pejorative context at all.

In my years at the Lane in the late 60s and early 70s, most all of them spent in the naughty Park Lane end, I never once heard Tottenham fans refer to themselves as "the Yid Army" or apply the word to themselves in any other way.

Evidently in earlier times it was opposing fans who used the term, intending it to be insulting because so many East Enders were (and are) Jewish.

It appears to me that during the "boom" period of football violence that was ushered in by the 1980s, what had been individual splinter groups of hooligans performing random acts of harm to others consolidated into the "firms" that conducted organized mass acts of terror. The firms gave themselves names - West Ham (Inter City Firm); Arsenal (The Herd); Chelsea (Headhunters) and so on. The Tottenham bunch chose "Yid Army" and thus it became media fodder and into general use.

It's a shame that the best football team in the universe should have to put up with both Arsenal and arseholes in legal groups

Meade