OPINION: Jews are more common in sports than imagined. So is antisemitism.
This summer brings a celebration of sports, starting with Euro 2024. But recent research from across Europe suggests that sports, and football in particular, can also serve as a petri dish for antisemitism
It’s that time of year again. Another summer of sport awaits, highlighted this year by the Olympics in Paris, scheduled to commence in August. The curtain raiser for this summer celebration is the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2024, held in Germany starting June 14th. Like millions of people across the continent and beyond, British Jews will share in the excitement and expectation.
In the UK, national football is a time for fans to root specifically for their country. During Euro 2024, fans of Scotland will be hoping they progress beyond the group stage where they finished last time; fans of Whales and Northern Ireland will wish to see their national teams make it to the next tournament; and, as always, fans of England will sing ‘it’s coming home’ and expect nothing short victory. If nothing else, it’s a chance to remind people again that David Baddiel is not just the ‘Jews Don’t Count’ guy.
Sports play an important part in Jewish life in the UK and elsewhere. The Maccabi World Union spans the globe, bringing Jews together in numerous sports competitions. The Maccabiah Games, held in Israel every four years, draws about 10,000 Jewish athletes from all over the world. In the UK, the Maccabi Football League includes dozens of teams playing fiercely contested Sunday morning matches.
JPR’s 2024 study of Jews in the UK today found that 3.9% of adult British Jews had done unpaid voluntary work for a Jewish sporting or exercise group in the year before being asked. While that’s less than the 31% who had volunteered in a synagogue, it’s slightly more than the 3.7% who had volunteered with the sick or disabled.
Sadly, we can’t talk about Jews and sports without mentioning antisemitism. Competition, even a healthy one, draws emotions and ‘trash-talk’, which sometimes manifests in antisemitic and racist slurs in the stands. Other times, far-right political organizations use football fandom as a device to spread antisemitism and other forms of racism.
Data from the JPR Research Panel suggest that 7.9% of British Jews had witnessed or heard negative statements about Jews at a sports event in 2022, a slight decline from 2018 (9%) when JPR conducted a survey in 16 countries for the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency. That same survey found significant differences between EU countries in how likely Jews were to report hearing negative statements about Jews at sports events. The highest was Italy, at 28%, and the lowest was Denmark, at 4% (the UK was the third lowest).
There is a small but growing literature emerging on Jews, antisemitism and football in European countries. The studies collated in the JPR European Jewish Research Archive (EJRA) offer intriguing insights. A German study found that more than two-thirds (68%) of Jewish amateur football players have experienced an antisemitic incident at least once, compared with 14% in other sporting activities. An Italian study showed that Jews faced discrimination when looking to join a football club. A Dutch study from 2022 describes how, during the Covid-19 pandemic, football-related antisemitism became more prolific online.
Of particular interest to researchers are those well-known clubs whose fans declare them “Jewish” and adopt Jewish symbols as a response to antisemitic attacks by rival fans, most famously Tottenham and Ajax Amsterdam. Such clubs and their rivals have also been sites for campaigns and educational activities designed to combat antisemitism, such as the UK’s The Y Word project and The Fancoach Project in the Netherlands.
As fans, JPR staff will watch Euro 2024 as avidly as everyone else. At the same time, our upcoming 2024 Jewish Current Affairs Survey will help gather vital information on antisemitism in UK sports. If you are a professional or an amateur athlete, a fan of football or any other sport, or have children involved in sporting activities, we invite you to join our research panel and make your opinions count (whether you encountered antisemitism or not). No matter which team you support during Euro 2024, you will support the British Jewish community.
That’s a sure win.
- Dr Keith Kahn-Harris, senior research fellow and project director, the European Jewish Research Archive
- Are you Jewish, 16+, and live in the UK? Join the JPR Research panel today, and you’ll be informed when the 2024 Jewish Current Affairs Survey is live: https://www.jpr.org.uk/panel
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