British Soccer Fans Can Now Chant ‘Yid’ Without Fear of Arrest
Yid Army: Fans cheer at a recent match between Tottenham Hotspurs and Aston Villa in England. Image by Getty Images
Fans of the British soccer team Tottenham Hotspurs who use the term “yid” will not be arrested, British police said.
Constable Steve Payne of London’s Metropolitan Police told a meeting of team fans last week that using the word is no longer an arrestable offense, but that fans could still be charged if accused of using the term in a pejorative way, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported.
The team, known as the Spurs, has many Jewish supporters who sometimes call themselves the “Yid army.” However, the term often is used derogatorily by opposing fans.
Payne, who works in the police Football Intelligence Unit, said at the meeting of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust that fans of opposing teams making anti-Semitic chants at Spurs supporters would be arrested, and acknowledged that there is a difference between offensive chants using the term yid made by opponents versus the team’s fans using the word.
The English Football Association announced in September that Hotspurs fans could face criminal charges for using yid, calling the term “inappropriate in a football setting.”
However, Tottenham backers have continued to use the term, saying it is not used derogatorily by team supporters. The chants include “Yids,” “Yid army” and “Yiddos.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
