Fast Forward

Chelsea FC, New England Revolution To Participate In March Of The Living

Chelsea’s English defender Gary Cahill lifts the trophy as Chelsea players celebrate their win after the English FA Cup final football match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley stadium in London on May 19, 2018. Image by IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten April 18, 2019

(JTA) — Two professional soccer teams — one in England and one in the United States — will send a joint delegation to the March of the Living.

The Chelsea Football Club and New England Revolution announced Wednesday in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they will have some 30 members attend the May 2 event in Poland, when approximately 10,000 people will march silently from the Auschwitz to Birkenau concentration camps to commemorate the lives lost in the Holocaust.

The joint delegation will include Chelsea Director Eugene Tenenbaum, CEO Guy Laurence, former manager Avram Grant, club ambassador Steve Redgrave and six players from its under-18 academy. From the Revolution, President Brian Bilello and former player Charlie Davies, now a club ambassador, will attend.

Last year, Chelsea was the first member of the Premier League, the top level for British soccer clubs, to send a delegation to the march. The Revolution of Major League Soccer will be the first U.S. team to send a group.

On May 15, the teams will compete in a charity match in Boston to raise funds for four organizations: the World Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, Holocaust Educational Trust and Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the site of a deadly shooting last year.

The participation in the March of the Living is part of a joint initiative by Chelsea, which is owned by the Russian Jewish businessman Roman Abramovich, and the Revolution, which is owned by the American Jewish businessman Robert Kraft, to fight anti-Semitism in sports.

Chelsea launched the project last year in response to its fans on multiple occasions using anti-Semitic slurs and singing anti-Jewish cheers.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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