Over half of Jewish Spurs fans in survey disagree with club’s attempt to stop Y-word

Over half of Tottenham Hotspur fans who identified themselves as being Jewish disagree with attempts by the club to stop supporters using the word Y*d, a new poll has revealed.

While nearly one third of Jewish supporters completing the annual survey by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust said they “always” use the ‘Y’ word at the club’s stadium.

The Fan Survey, which was completed by 6001 fans overall, is conducted by the trust to help understand supporter’s views on a variety of topics relating to the north London club.

The Trust polled on the use of the Y word saying “in light of the Club’s continuing work on this subject, that it was more important than ever to get some solid statistics on this controversial subject. ”

The survey also compared answers from match going respondents who identified as Jewish against data from all respondents.

Respondents were asked if they “agreed with the Club that the time has come to move on from using the word in relation to Spurs.”

52% of fans who identified as Jewish strongly disagreed or disagreed, with 30% agreeing.

Some 36% of all respondents strongly disagreed or disagreed, with 35% agreeing and 29% neither agreeing or disagreeing.

Fans were also asked in light of the club’s campaigning against the Y word, “how frequently are you now using the term within the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?”.

Some 31% of respondents who identified as Jewish said always, while the figure for all respondents was 17%; 19% said usually (15% of all respondents); 14% said sometimes (21% of all respondents) 10% said rarely (19% of all respondents) and 25% said never (28% of all respondents).

Fans were also asked if the Club’s request made you more or less likely to use the so-called Y Word when singing or chanting inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Some 15% of match going fans who identified as Jewish said it had made them more likely to use the word, compared to 9% of all respondents; 61% said the same as before (58% of all respondents) and 24% of Jewish respondents said it made them less likely to use the term (33% of all respondents).

Summarising the results, the Trust said:” This issue remains a sensitive, polarising subject that needs careful thought. Jewish respondents are amongst the highest demographic to regularly use the chant and the demographic where the Club’s campaign has prompted the biggest uplift in use.

“So if consideration is to be given to the Jewish community, as it should be, then the views of this section of the Jewish community have to be considered.

“Opinion is clearly evenly divided among Jewish fans and non-Jewish fans, making it extremely challenging for the Trust to take a representative position.

“We will continue to argue for dialogue, understanding and sensitivity around this subject, while continuing to refute accusations of antisemitism against our fans.”

Spurs released a statement in February urging fans to consider stop using the Y word in chants and in general conversation under the headline “It’s time to move on.”

The club said focus groups with fans had shown that Jewish members of their fanbase feel uncomfortable with the Y-word’s continued use at matches.

It was also suggested: “Supporters, especially those of a younger generation, are often unaware of the term’s meaning and its historical context when chanting it.”

But the use of the Y word has continued at matches – including at Saturday’s first home game of the new season, in which Spurs beat Southampton 4-1.

Jewish News has contacted the trust to ask how many of those completing the survey identified as Jewish.

The full survey is available here https://www.thstofficial.com/uploads/9/2/2/6/92268578/thst_annual_fans_survey_2022.pdf