Global symposium on tackling antisemitism in sport to feature Chelsea chairman

Football chiefs from the UK and US are due to speak at an international symposium aimed at tackling antisemitism in sport at a private research institution in New York later this month.

Chelsea Football Club chairman Bruce Buck and New York Giants vice-president Don Sperling will be keynote speakers at Fordham University on 25 September.

The symposium, presented in conjunction with Chelsea and New England Revolution’s ‘Final Whistle on Hate’ campaign, will features athletes, agents, academics and journalists “sharing a global perspective on the realities of antisemitism, its interface with sports, and strategies for changing the playing field”.

Among the speakers is Stephen Smith OBE, who founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire in 1995 before helping to open Holocaust centres in Lithuania and South Africa. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education.

Other speakers will represent organisations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Auschwitz Institute, Yeshiva University and Maccabi USA, as well as Yael Averbuch, executive director of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Last month it was announced that match receipts and private contributions totalling £3.3 million from a match between Chelsea and New England Revolution had been distributed to charities fighting antisemitism.

Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich and the Revolution’s Robert Kraft, who both chipped in £450,000, have sought to fight antisemitism in the sport, culminating in the prestigious Final Whistle on Hate charity match held in May. UK-based beneficiaries included the Community Security Trust (CST) and the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).