Jewish junior footballers aged seven have been taunted by children on opposing teams with hissing sounds meant to evoke the gas chambers.
The disturbing practice has emerged as former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers urges the football authorities to enforce the same “zero tolerance” on antisemitism in the professional and amateur game that is rightly applied to other forms of racism.
In a parliamentary debate on antisemitism in football last week, Labour MP for Bury South Christian Wakeford said: “Even at grassroots and junior football, I have heard local reports from Maccabi of their Jewish players – some only seven years of age – being hissed at by players on the opposite side, replicating the noise of the gas chambers. I am sure that we can all agree that is truly shameful, shocking and abhorrent.”
Tory former Northern Ireland secretary Ms Villiers told the JC: “I found that incredibly disturbing. To have young children inflicting that on each other is horrifying.” She suggested that many referees would be unaware of what the hissing meant. The answer, she added, was “to improve referee training at all levels of the game, so that they will realise what’s happening and put a stop to it”.
Ms Villiers, the MP for Chipping Barnet, is calling for a clampdown on anti-Jewish bullying involving clubs, police and prosecutors.
She told the JC: “As in other spheres, antisemitism is taken less seriously in football than other forms of racism.
“Some action is already being taken, but there has to be more.
“Clubs and the footballing authorities need to make it clearer that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and they must take action quicker, while the police must be readier to make arrests.
“And when people are found guilty, clubs should ban the perpetrators from their grounds, even if they are season ticket holders. Such people should not be welcome at games.”
She told the JC that well as banning supporters guilty of antisemitic acts from grounds and training referees to recognise and deal with the problem, football authorities must do their utmost to educate fans, players and officials.
Her proposals were endorsed by Jonathan Metliss, a longstanding campaigner against football antisemitism and the chairman of Action Against Discrimination (AAD), who held lengthy discussions with Ms Villiers before the debate in Westminster Hall.
Mr Metliss said he warmly welcomed the debate and the contributions made by Ms Villiers and other MPs who spoke: “Ultimately, this is about all those involved in football recognising that antisemitism is as much an affront to civilisation as all other forms of racism.”
A senior national footballing official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the JC that Ms Villiers and Mr Metliss were right to call for tougher action.
On paper, he said, the Football Association and other bodies in the sport had policies designed to combat antisemitism but not enough is being done.
He told the JC: “The rules are good but they are not being implemented in the majority of cases. Referees now know they have to bear down hard on anti-black racism, but with antisemitism, they are less ready to intervene.”
At top levels of the game, he said, “there is a fair bit of activity” although even this was not fully effective. But at youth and community level, “far more needs to be done” – bearing in mind that around 10,000 formally refereed games take place every weekend.
