Jewish Identity Scandal in British Soccer League
Soccer manager Rob Lerner of London’s Holy Mount Zion Team allowed non-Jewish players to play under false names while competing in the Maccabi Southern Football League, reports the Jewish Chronicle.
FIFA-qualified referee, Nigel Burns, became suspicious mid-match when he heard the players, officially Danny Potter and Simon Laub, refer to each other by their real names, Mariusz Mielniczuk and Javier Guevara. The former later claimed that Mariusz was only a nickname.
The ultimate realization came as the result of a photo taken by a JC photographer. When the British newspaper requested captions for the image, it was given the names Potter and Laub. The same images, posted by team members on Facebook, contradicted the information: the same two players were tagged as Mariusz Mielniczuk, a Polish personal trainer, and Javier Guevara, a banker from Colombia.
The players are now at the center of an investigation into the recruitment of non-Jewish players, and HMZ’s matches have been suspended until all players can prove their Jewish faith. Managers of other teams have called for the team to be permanently expelled from the league.
When asked why he accepted non-Jewish players, Lerer told the JC: “I didn’t have much choice. I had to, it is the only way I could get a team out.” This is an enduring problem for a number of Jewish-only clubs, who often show up with incomplete teams, hoping for the best.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.